Sharing or Appropriation? Share Systems, Class and Commodity Relations in Scottish Fisheries

Abstract

Fishing share systems that distribute ‘fishing surplus’ among crew are widespread in global fisheries. One recent analysis identifies the New England ‘lay’ share system as a form of ‘non‐capitalism’ because of the way that surpluses are shared (St Martin 2007). Through ethnographic, historical and economic analysis of Scottish commercial nephrops trawler fisheries, this paper demonstrates that fishing share systems are adaptable to the exploitation of labour. While share systems seem to have their origins in shared ownership of fishing boats and gear, it is the present lack of this link in Scotland that has created the conditions for labour itself to become a commodity and share systems to function as a variable and casual wage. This paper argues that the dependence of the fishery on commodity production and its reliance on labour as a commodity makes it fully capitalist, even in the presence of a share system, and explores the social and ecological consequences of the development of these more conventionally capitalist class relations.