Changing Property, Spatializing Difference: the Sea Scallop Fishery in New Bedford, Massachusetts

Abstract

While the historical character of US fisheries has been dominated by the idea of open access, the last several decades have seen sometimes quite radical changes to this basic way of thinking. Government regulation has increasingly taken the form of limited access to fisheries by various means. The Atlantic Sea Scallop fishery in the Northeast US provides a unique insight into the meanings, practices, and implications of these changes in the character of property relations. While the fishery has seen rebounding success in the past few years, the scallop fishery also encapsulates a number of the changes and controversies confronting fisheries worldwide. At the same time, the regulatory regime has seen a shift towards area-based management, which underscores spatial heterogeneity of the resources while using a culturally constructed view of fishermen. New area-based management measures have forced into view a fundamental difference in access between a more property-oriented industrial style of fishing and an...