Social media within digitalisation for coastal resilience: The case of coastal fisheries in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

Attention to digitalisation as a resilience strategy for coastal communities is growing. However, it is critical that digital technologies and approaches are not forced on localities to enable national or regional sustainability goals, and that communities are engaged and empowered in digital approaches to support resilience on their own terms. This is especially so in a coastal context, where marginality may be greater and where communities may already face multiple pressures. In response, we look at how one particular form of digital technology – social media – may support resilience-building for Minamisoma, a fishing community facing complex and ongoing environmental and socio-economic challenges following the 2011 nuclear disaster. We find that social media offers a channel for some community members in Minamisoma to (re)construct a sense of pride and identity through engagement with fisheries, seafood and the coastal landscape, and to challenge negative external perceptions of their locality. Yet we caution that whilst social media as one digital approach is a valuable repository for pride and identity, it may not be so useful for assessing broader consumer or societal trends upon which the economic revitalisation of a coastal community trading on fisheries and tourism may depend. Nonetheless, we conclude that within a wider suite of digitalisation measures, social media can support coastal actors to sustain a narrative of resilience locally, and continually engage with those in other locations. This may be especially important in the face of ongoing environmental challenges, where communities face multiple setbacks over time.