Preview

PDF, English - main document Download (1MB) | Terms of use

Abstract

The fisheries of Nova Scotia have for centuries been the site of struggle and rhetorical dispute between indigenous and non-indigenous fishers, including a rise of conflict in recent years on the wharves and waters of the province's lobster fishery. According to officialdom, the conflict is best understood in terms of 'conservation' and varying approaches to marine stewardship. Based on one year of ethnographic fieldwork, the current study demonstrates that while conservation concerns are prevalent features of the lived experience of the fishery's actors, the current conflict is best understood in terms of the varying relationships and ontological leanings that constitute the ecologies within which each side operates. In other words, the return of an active presence of indigenous harvesters in the fishery marks a return of ecological plurality therein, including a reconfiguration of relationships, ontological assumptions, and the foundations of human-environment relations for all.