Bradford Dubik | Duke University (original) (raw)

Papers by Bradford Dubik

Change, adaptation, and resilience have emerged as central concerns in the study of natural resou... more Change, adaptation, and resilience have emerged as central concerns in the study of natural resource governance. The mobility of fisheries makes them particularly dynamic and susceptible to long term drivers of movement, such as changing climatic conditions and human pressures. To explore how movement impacts resource systems, this paper presents a mixed-method empirical analysis of long-term geographic shifts and social response in the Northeast U.S. summer flounder fishery from 1996 to 2014. First, the paper describes changes in the distribution of summer flounder and the catch location of commercial fishing trips landing summer flounder. This is followed by a description of the institutional context of summer flounder fishery management and a narrative policy analysis of the ongoing regulatory process. Results indicate significant northward movement of both resource and resource users. Fisheries movement patterns are a result of both ecological change, and an institutional context that allows for some types of fishery mobility while constraining others. Significant conflict has emerged over the distribution of resource access and benefits as these fishery shifts occur within a spatially allocative, and relatively static management context. The analysis identifies competing policy narratives that have emerged to advocate for different forms of adaptation. Narratives offer contesting constructions of the nature and extent of locational shifts, and the fundamental goals of allocation. The differences in these narratives highlight how policy history shapes contemporary disagreements about appropriate response. This fishery serves as a case study for exploring human response to large scale, long-term movements of a natural resource.

Increased interest in oceans is leading to new and renewed global governance efforts directed tow... more Increased interest in oceans is leading to new and renewed global governance efforts directed toward ocean issues in areas of food production, biodiversity conservation, industrialization, global environmental change, and pollution. Global oceans governance efforts face challenges and opportunities related to the nature of oceans and to actors involved in, the scale of, and knowledge informing their governance. We review these topics generally and in relation to nine new and emerging issues: small-scale fisheries (SSFs), aquaculture , biodiversity conservation on the high seas, large marine protected areas (LMPAs), tuna fisheries, deep-sea mining, ocean acidification (OA), blue carbon (BC), and plastics pollution.

Marine Policy, 2016

This research investigates organizational diversity within Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) i... more This research investigates organizational diversity within Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) in North America. Generally understood as the direct marketing of seafood through pre-arranged deliveries, CSFs have increased in number and geographic distribution since their origin in 2007. Despite, or because of, this rapid growth, fundamental questions remain unanswered about what organizational structures and business practices currently constitute the term ‘CSF’. This research draws on interview data from 22 CSFs to highlight the diversity within the CSF movement and inform ongoing debates about appropriate paths for their continued growth. Interview data is used to describe key areas of convergence and divergence among the goals, business practices, and structures of CSFs. Three general types of CSF are identified based on this analysis: harvester focused, consumer focused and species focused. Each type is described through a short illustrative case study. Overall results indicate that the term ‘CSF’ does not currently refer to a specific structure or type of organization, but rather an approach to seafood marketing used by a variety of organizations with broadly similar production philosophies centered on engaging and informing consumers around traceable, domestically sourced seafood. Acknowledgment of CSFs as diverse and socially embedded organizations is necessary to understanding their potential benefits.

Ecology and Society, 2015

Faced with strict regulations, rising operational costs, depleted stocks, and competition from le... more Faced with strict regulations, rising operational costs, depleted stocks, and competition from less expensive foreign imports, many fishers are pursuing new ways to market and sell their catch. Direct marketing arrangements can increase the ex-vessel value of seafood and profitability of operations for fishers by circumventing dominant wholesale chains of custody and capturing the premium that customers are willing to pay for local seafood. Our analysis goes beyond a paradigm that understands direct marketing arrangements as solely economic tools to consider how these emerging business configurations create a set of conditions that can result in increased bonding and bridging capital among fishers by incentivizing cooperation, communication, and information production and organization. To build our case, we report on the economic value being generated for fishers in a cooperatively owned and operated direct marketing arrangement in eastern North Carolina. Over the course of 2 years, fishers participating in the Walking Fish community supported fishery received 33% more revenue for their catch compared to the average monthly ex-vessel price of finfish and shellfish landed in the surrounding region, and an additional 14% to 18% more per dollar by way of year-end profit sharing. We argue that these economic benefits create an incentive to participate, resulting in cooperation among fishers and increased communication skills that foster bonding and bridging capital that put fishers in a position to identify and respond to challenges that threaten the social ecological resilience of the systems within which they operate. We suggest that “institutional starters” like these can play a critical role in increasing the resilience of social-ecological systems, including fisheries.

Change, adaptation, and resilience have emerged as central concerns in the study of natural resou... more Change, adaptation, and resilience have emerged as central concerns in the study of natural resource governance. The mobility of fisheries makes them particularly dynamic and susceptible to long term drivers of movement, such as changing climatic conditions and human pressures. To explore how movement impacts resource systems, this paper presents a mixed-method empirical analysis of long-term geographic shifts and social response in the Northeast U.S. summer flounder fishery from 1996 to 2014. First, the paper describes changes in the distribution of summer flounder and the catch location of commercial fishing trips landing summer flounder. This is followed by a description of the institutional context of summer flounder fishery management and a narrative policy analysis of the ongoing regulatory process. Results indicate significant northward movement of both resource and resource users. Fisheries movement patterns are a result of both ecological change, and an institutional context that allows for some types of fishery mobility while constraining others. Significant conflict has emerged over the distribution of resource access and benefits as these fishery shifts occur within a spatially allocative, and relatively static management context. The analysis identifies competing policy narratives that have emerged to advocate for different forms of adaptation. Narratives offer contesting constructions of the nature and extent of locational shifts, and the fundamental goals of allocation. The differences in these narratives highlight how policy history shapes contemporary disagreements about appropriate response. This fishery serves as a case study for exploring human response to large scale, long-term movements of a natural resource.

Increased interest in oceans is leading to new and renewed global governance efforts directed tow... more Increased interest in oceans is leading to new and renewed global governance efforts directed toward ocean issues in areas of food production, biodiversity conservation, industrialization, global environmental change, and pollution. Global oceans governance efforts face challenges and opportunities related to the nature of oceans and to actors involved in, the scale of, and knowledge informing their governance. We review these topics generally and in relation to nine new and emerging issues: small-scale fisheries (SSFs), aquaculture , biodiversity conservation on the high seas, large marine protected areas (LMPAs), tuna fisheries, deep-sea mining, ocean acidification (OA), blue carbon (BC), and plastics pollution.

Marine Policy, 2016

This research investigates organizational diversity within Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) i... more This research investigates organizational diversity within Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) in North America. Generally understood as the direct marketing of seafood through pre-arranged deliveries, CSFs have increased in number and geographic distribution since their origin in 2007. Despite, or because of, this rapid growth, fundamental questions remain unanswered about what organizational structures and business practices currently constitute the term ‘CSF’. This research draws on interview data from 22 CSFs to highlight the diversity within the CSF movement and inform ongoing debates about appropriate paths for their continued growth. Interview data is used to describe key areas of convergence and divergence among the goals, business practices, and structures of CSFs. Three general types of CSF are identified based on this analysis: harvester focused, consumer focused and species focused. Each type is described through a short illustrative case study. Overall results indicate that the term ‘CSF’ does not currently refer to a specific structure or type of organization, but rather an approach to seafood marketing used by a variety of organizations with broadly similar production philosophies centered on engaging and informing consumers around traceable, domestically sourced seafood. Acknowledgment of CSFs as diverse and socially embedded organizations is necessary to understanding their potential benefits.

Ecology and Society, 2015

Faced with strict regulations, rising operational costs, depleted stocks, and competition from le... more Faced with strict regulations, rising operational costs, depleted stocks, and competition from less expensive foreign imports, many fishers are pursuing new ways to market and sell their catch. Direct marketing arrangements can increase the ex-vessel value of seafood and profitability of operations for fishers by circumventing dominant wholesale chains of custody and capturing the premium that customers are willing to pay for local seafood. Our analysis goes beyond a paradigm that understands direct marketing arrangements as solely economic tools to consider how these emerging business configurations create a set of conditions that can result in increased bonding and bridging capital among fishers by incentivizing cooperation, communication, and information production and organization. To build our case, we report on the economic value being generated for fishers in a cooperatively owned and operated direct marketing arrangement in eastern North Carolina. Over the course of 2 years, fishers participating in the Walking Fish community supported fishery received 33% more revenue for their catch compared to the average monthly ex-vessel price of finfish and shellfish landed in the surrounding region, and an additional 14% to 18% more per dollar by way of year-end profit sharing. We argue that these economic benefits create an incentive to participate, resulting in cooperation among fishers and increased communication skills that foster bonding and bridging capital that put fishers in a position to identify and respond to challenges that threaten the social ecological resilience of the systems within which they operate. We suggest that “institutional starters” like these can play a critical role in increasing the resilience of social-ecological systems, including fisheries.