Doctoral Dissertation Research: Networks, Institutions, and Claims in a Complex Commons: The Long Island Sound

在一个复杂的公地中，有各种各样的利益攸关方参与对同一地理竞技场的多重、同时、有时甚至是相互冲突的使用。 共同池资源的治理往往需要正式的法律的规则和非正式的事实上的安排之间复杂甚至混乱的相互作用，从而造成制度上的复杂性。本博士论文研究将探讨社会行为者如何确保权利的共同池资源，因此，他们的生计，在长岛湾河口（LIS）复杂的公地。 LIS位于美国东部的纽约州和康涅狄格州之间。 地雷影响调查的龙虾渔业由于其经济意义和目前的问题，是本次调查的切入点。 美国龙虾业是美国最有价值的渔业之一，纽约在1990年代后期的国内上岸量中排名第三。 这种渔业受到日益增长的生态不确定性的证明，缺氧，壳病，最近，环境的惊喜，在LIS的部分龙虾急性，广泛的死亡率的形式。 这项研究将审查龙虾渔业的社会行为者如何驾驭长岛海峡复杂的体制环境，以确保对资源的权利，表现为对环境商品和服务的合法有效支配。 事实上（非正式的和地方的）和法律上（正式的和法律的）的社交网络和机构将是这次调查的重点。 本项目的目标是：（1）确定在复杂的体制环境中出现的获取资源的机会和制约因素;（2）确定社交网络在复杂的公地中应享权利方面的作用。 环境权利的方法，一种形式的制度分析，审查生计，环境和机构之间的联系，提供了这个案例研究的概念框架。 将采用多种类型和来源的证据，如现有数据，包括报纸、上岸数据、环境质量指标图和事件时间表;通过渔民和捕虾人论坛和社区访问进行直接观察;与熟悉地雷影响调查中海洋资源问题的行为者进行关键线人访谈。 这些人将包括捕虾人、合作推广代理人、经销商以及州和联邦管理机构的代表。 随后将对三个社区的捕虾人进行深入访谈，这些社区被关键线人认为是重要的。 多种证据来源的融合将为更广泛的综合分析提供基础，包括环境分析、生计分析和体制分析。 将绘制社区网络图，并将其作为一种社会资本纳入生计分析。 将对三个社区的案例进行分析。 这项研究将澄清社交网络和体制复杂性在促进和限制获得共同资源方面的作用。 这项研究将审查在复杂环境中具有经济价值的共同资源库的社会和体制方面。 研究过程将有助于确定在复杂的公地中谋求生计所需的要素和关系。 该项目将从三个方面促进共同财产资源研究的当前发展。 首先，复杂的公地发生在不同的尺度上（例如，城市港口、区域水体和公海），而复杂公域概念则承认机构的这种复杂性，并将共同的资源使用置于更广泛的社会和生态背景之下。 第二，有一个新兴的重点是社区异质性，社会相互依存，沟通和日常实践中塑造使用的公地，使机构也是社会互动，竞争和谈判的网站。 本研究将通过审查社交网络和机构间关系来运用这些概念。 最后，这项研究将有助于进一步发展环境权利框架，最初应用于以社区为基础的可持续性倡议，采用它作为一个综合分析，在发达的北美设置。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

In a complex commons there are diverse stakeholders engaged in multiple, concurrent, and sometimes conflicting, uses of the same geographical arena. Governance of common pool resources often entails a complex, even messy, interplay of formal legal rules and informal de facto arrangements, creating institutional complexity. This doctoral dissertation research will examine how social actors secure rights to a common pool resource, and therefore, their livelihood, in the complex commons of the Long Island Sound estuary (LIS). The LIS is situated between the states of New York and Connecticut in the eastern United States. The lobster fishery of the LIS is the entry point for this inquiry due to its economic significance and current problems. The American lobster industry is one of the most valuable fisheries in the United States, and New York ranked third in domestic landings during the late 1990s. This fishery is subject to rising ecological uncertainty as evidenced by episodes of hypoxia, shell disease, and recently, environmental surprise in the form of acute, extensive mortality of lobster in portions of the LIS. The study will examine how social actors in the lobster fishery navigate the complex institutional environment of the Long Island Sound to secure entitlements to resources, expressed as the legitimate effective command of environmental goods and services. Social networks and institutions in de facto (informal and local) and de jure (formal and legal) arenas will be the focus of this investigation. The objectives of this project are (1) to determine the opportunities and constraints on resource access that emerge within a complex institutional landscape and (2) to ascertain the role of social networks with respect to entitlements within a complex commons. The environmental entitlements approach, a form of institutional analysis that examines the linkages among livelihood, environment, and institutions, provides the conceptual framework for this case study. Multiple types and sources of evidence will be engaged such as existing data including newspapers, landings data, environmental quality indicator maps, and event timelines; direct observation through fishers' and lobstermen's forums, and community visits; and key informant interviews with actors familiar with marine resource issues in the LIS. These will include lobstermen, cooperative extension agents, dealers, and representatives of state and federal regulatory agencies. In-depth interviews with lobstermen in three communities identified as important by key informants will follow. Convergence of multiple sources of evidence will provide the basis for a broader integrated analysis incorporating environmental analysis, livelihood analysis, and institutional analysis. Networks in communities will be mapped and incorporated into the livelihood analysis as a form of social capital. Analysis across the three community cases will be undertaken. The research will clarify the role of social networks and institutional complexity in enabling and constraining access to common pool resources. This study will examine social and institutional aspects of an economically valued common pool resource in a complex setting. The research process will facilitate the identification of elements and relationships considered necessary for pursing a livelihood in a complex commons. The project will contribute to current developments in common property resource research in three ways. First, complex commons occur at various scales (e.g., urban ports, regional water bodies, and the high seas) and the notion of a complex commons acknowledges this complexity in institutions and places common pool resource use within its broader social and ecological context. Second, there is an emerging focus on community heterogeneity, social interdependencies, communication, and daily practice in shaping use in the commons so institutions are also sites of social interaction, contest, and negotiation. This study will engage these concepts by examining social networks and inter-institutional relationships. Finally, the study will contribute to the further development of the environmental entitlements framework, applied initially in with community-based sustainability initiatives, by employing it as an integrated analysis in a developed North American setting. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.