2010 Northeast Regional Social Science Symposium

摘要

As complex as marine ecosystems are, perhaps equally or even more complex are the people and communities who study, manage and use them. Although federal law (i.e., the Magnuson-Stevens Act and amendments) stipulates that biological requisites override all other concerns for the management of fisheries, it also recognizes that because people are an integral part of marine ecosystems, social and economic aspects must be considered. A key role of social science has been to examine the tradeoffs between meeting biological objectives and the impacts on or opportunities for fishing communities. Most stakeholders would agree, however, that the need for social science data and analysis in fisheries management is still greater than the supply, and that we have yet to achieve a scientifically sound understanding of the social and economic components of marine ecosystems.