Science and Citizen Participation in Fisheries Management

这一实证研究将加深我们对科学、环境政策和公众参与之间关系的理解。在海洋渔业管理的背景下，研究人员使用了一种中观水平的方法，研究了科学和关于科学可信度的主张是如何在大型但仍然明确的利益相关者社区中使用的。——存在许多联邦渔业管理计划，可以对它们进行有益的比较。这项研究将利用正在进行的关于什么是好的渔业数据以及如何使用这些数据的辩论，并建立在先前关于利益相关者参与海洋渔业管理决策的研究基础上。-它使用关键信息提供者访谈，电话调查，案例研究和文件分析，来检查(1)关于一个问题的整体科学确定性水平如何影响参与者对科学可信度的主张，(2)参与者如何收集和使用科学信息可以识别哪些模式，以及(3)关于科学问题的法律规定如何影响科学数据的使用和对可信度的主张。面谈的主要资料提供者将包括渔业科学家和渔业管理的其他参与者，为联邦授权的区域理事会和委员会以及州级机构工作的科学家和其他人员，以及来自商业和娱乐部门的渔民。受访者将被问及他们对科学信息的使用情况，以及他们对如何使用这些信息的看法。在对科学家的采访中，调查人员会询问具体的法律规定如何影响他们使用数据和做出科学决策的方式。——对公共会议和听证会上随机选择的参与者进行电话调查，将检验从关键信息提供者访谈中产生的假设，这些假设是关于机构和专业关系以及阶级和部门利益如何影响人们对科学应该如何使用的看法。龙虾、蓝鱼和夏比目鱼的管理案例研究将包括三种主要方法：1)参与观察渔业管理程序；2)对来自不同机构和利益相关者群体的参与者进行深度访谈；3)对渔业管理机构和其他来源的文件进行档案研究。最后一个项目组成部分研究了联邦渔业管理计划的样本，对来自美国各地的75个基于努力管理的物种进行定性和定量比较。利用可公开获得的文件，调查人员将评估该计划所依据的科学的确定性，以及在公共论坛上对该科学提出的挑战类型，以检验“更确定的科学导致对该科学的公众挑战更少”这一假设

This empirical research will add to our understanding of the relationship between-science, environmental policy, and public participation. Using a meso-level approach in the context of marine fisheries management, the investigators examine how science, and claims about scientific-credibility, are used within large, but still defined, communities of stakeholders.-- Many federal fisheries management-plans exist and informative comparisons among them can be made. The research will tap in to an ongoing-debate about what constitutes good fisheries data and how such data should be used, and builds upon-previous research on stakeholder participation in marine fisheries management decisions.-- It uses key informant interviews, a telephone survey, case studies, and document analysis, to examine (1) how the level of overall scientific certainty about an issue affects participant claims about scientific credibility, (2) what patterns can be discerned in how participants gather and use scientific information, and (3) how legal mandates about scientific issues affect the use of scientific data and claims about credibility. Key informant interviews will include fisheries-scientists and other participants in fisheries management, scientists and other personnel-working for federally mandated regional councils and commissions and state-level agencies, and fishers from the-commercial and recreational sectors. Respondents will be asked about their use of scientific information-and their opinions about how such information should be used. In interviews of scientists, investigators will ask about-how specific legal mandates affect the way they use data and make scientific decisions.--The telephone survey of a random selection of participants in public meetings and hearings will test-hypotheses, generated from the key informant interviews, about how institutional and professional-affiliations, and class and sectoral interests, affect perceptions of how science should be used. The case studies of the management of lobster, bluefish, and summer flounder will involve three-major methods: 1) participant observation of fisheries management-procedures; 2) in-depth interviews with participants from different agencies and stakeholder groups;-and 3) archival research on documents from fisheries management agencies and other sources.--The final project component studies a sample of federal fisheries management plans to make both qualitative and-quantitative comparisons of 75 species under effort-based-management from around the United States. Using publicly available documents, the investigators will assess both the-certainty of the science on which the plan is built and the type of challenges to that science that have been-made in public fora, to test the hypothesis that more certain science leads to fewer public challenges-to that science.-