MCA: Electronic Monitoring of Fisheries to Protect the Environment & Human Rights

电子监测（EM）有可能解决与捕鱼有关的环境问题，例如非法、不报告和不管制捕鱼（IUU捕鱼）。电子监控是一种机载摄像机系统，用于记录捕鱼量，以便以后分析、验证并与渔业法规保持一致。有害环境的捕鱼做法与剥削人民之间存在联系，给海上工人带来了可怕的后果（例如工作条件、职业健康与安全、强迫劳动和现代奴役）。最近的研究表明，EM捕获的环境数据也可能揭示船上工人和人类观察员所承受的社会和劳动条件。一些环保组织和政府已经明确表示，新兴市场有可能拯救鱼类种群，同时使渔业的工作更容易进行数据报告、可追溯性和随后的利润增加。然而，这一愿景将享有体面工作条件和公平待遇的人权与享有隐私权的人权对立起来。该项目是一项探索性研究，旨在调查首要研究问题：全球环境想象和竞争的社会技术想象如何塑造渔业中EM的当前使用和未来？调查方法是半结构化访谈和文献分析与接地理论的方法，参与观察，预见方法和定性系统映射（QSM）。约束选择理论可以作为一个透镜来识别新兴的竞争性想象及其背后的驱动因素。这个项目将：1)对机构如何创造想象的相对较少的文献做出贡献；2)探索从全球到地方的不同尺度的想象；3)探索导致重新配置的想象的驱动因素；4)探索围绕新兴市场的社会文化和人文维度；5)进一步发展新兴的QSM方法。重要的是，该研究项目将促进理论和应用理解，有助于减少渔业中侵犯人权的行为，包括现代奴隶制。本项目由上海理工大学科学技术研究项目和生物科学部环境生物学部共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Electronic monitoring (EM) has the potential to address environmental concerns around fishing, such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing). Electronic monitoring is a system of onboard cameras that records fishing catches for later analysis, verification, and alignment with fisheries regulations. There is a link between environmentally harmful fishing practices and the exploitation of people, with dire consequences for workers at sea (e.g. working conditions, occupational health and safety, forced labor, and modern slavery). Recent research indicated that the environmental data captured by EM may also reveal the social and labor conditions borne by workers and human observers on vessels. Some environmental groups and governments have articulated a vision of the potential of EM to save fish populations, while making the fishing industries’ work easier for data reporting, traceability, and subsequent profit increase. However, this vision pits human rights to decent working conditions and fair treatment against human rights to privacy.This project is an exploratory study to investigate the overarching research question: How is the global environmental imaginary and competing sociotechnical imaginary shaping the current use and futures of EM in fisheries? The methods of investigation are semi-structured interviews and documents analyzed with a grounded theory approach, participant observation, foresight methods, and qualitative systems mapping (QSM). Constrained Choice Theory serves as a lens to identify emerging competing imaginaries and the drivers behind them. This project will: 1) contribute to the comparatively small literature of how institutions create imaginaries; 2) explore imaginaries at different scales from the global to local; 3) explore the drivers that lead to reconfigured imaginaries; 4) explore the socio-cultural and human dimensions surrounding EM; 5) and further develop the nascent method QSM. Importantly, the research project will advance both theoretical and applied understanding that could help reduce human rights abuses, including modern slavery, in fisheries.This project is jointly funded by the Science and Technology Studies program in SBE and Division Of Environmental Biology in Biological Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.