Anthony Davis

Mount Saint Vincent University · Faculty of Arts and Science

Through a systematic content analysis of mainstream print media treatment of two Supreme court rulings on Indigenous treaty entitlements, this research examines attributes of the coverage afforded to Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices. Our findings demonstrate that, with respect to narrative power, non – Indigenous interests and perspectives were...

An interdisciplinary approach is necessary for the sustainable management and governance of renewable natural resources, in which “Local Ecological Knowledge” (LEK), a quintessentially interdisciplinary field, is regarded as an essential source of information. But the effective use of LEK for this purpose would first demand the recognition and corr...

Common assertions about the benefits for small-scale fisheries under co-management and human rights approaches become untenable in the context of neoliberalism, because they facilitate the penetration into communities of rationalities and operational methods that betray resource harvesters by undermining family life and cultural systems, and destro...

Recent global initiatives such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples have brought the issues facing and needs of Indigenous peoples to the forefront of international attention. While underscoring respect for traditional practices, these initiatives have yet to appreciate fully the extent to which Indigenous peoples’...

Case studies from Canada and Vietnam demonstrate both the importance and content limitations of local ecological knowledge (LEK) acquired during collaborative research between local fishers and scientists. The Canadian research disproved fishers’ contentions that white hake (Urophycis tenuis) was the main predator on juvenile lobster (Homarus ameri...

Key attributes of the social research contributions on indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK), local ecological knowledge (LEK), and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) are analyzed using the most frequently cited literature generated by the "ISI Web of Knowledge" and "Google Scholar" search engines. They are further exemplified by an examination...

Fisheries management systems everywhere tend to be dominated by the proprietary claims of nation states. These claims are embodied in a number of international agreements such as the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea, which accords rights to nation-states on the basis of adjacency and historic use. In this paper, we present results f...

This paper describes the informal system of property rights that characterizes the commercially valuable lobster fishery pursued in St. George’s Bay, northeastern Nova Scotia, by the descendents of Scottish Gaels. In this setting, discrete family-defined but individually “owned” lobster fishing berths coexist cheek by jowl with a “common ground” fi...

Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence fish harvesters voiced the concern that white hake (Urophycis tenuis) were jeopardizing the recruitment of juvenile American lobster (Homarus americanus), through predation, into the commercially exploitable population. The harvesters insisted that marine science was not documenting this situation, since sampling was b...

I Resume The Mi'kmaq have a deep and rich relationship with Ka't (American eel-Anguilla rostrata). While the Mi'kmaq continue to harvest Ka'tfor food, their relations with and use of eel also em body im portant cultural meanings and practices. Ka't occupies a notable place within many ceremonial settings, is used for medicinal purposes and, as a co...

Documenting local ecological knowledge (LEK) has recently become a topic of considerable interest within the social research, development, and indigenous rights communities. For instance, LEK is thought to offer a substantial alternative to existing, largely top–down, natural resource management regimes. LEK informed resource management systems wou...

Access to and use of natural resources as a cornerstone in sustaining indigenous cultures has recently obtained considerable international attention. Access to marine resources has become a key issue for many aboriginal peoples struggling to move from dependency on the nation state to self-determining agency. This essay describes and compares recen...

The results of an analysis of two different data sets respecting mate selection and age preferences are presented here. The first is drawn from a study of personals advertisements and the second from an examination of records of mid-19th- and early-20th-century registered marriages in selected Nova Scotian coastal communities.... Analysis of male a...

Fisheries social research has attracted increasing attention in recent debates concerning alternative approaches in the design of fisheries management systems. This essay examines case study and fisheries social research literature with a view to highlighting conceptual‐analytical strengths, shortcomings, and lessons with respect to management conc...

It would seem, at least on the basis of the essays presented in this special issue, that individual transferable quotas (ITQs) are a welcomed, long overdue fisheries management initiative. Herein and elsewhere, ITQs have received positive endorsement and, in some instances, enthusiastic championship. They are associated with the achievement of long...

Small boat fishers have often been characterized as uncooperative individualists resistant to forming and sustaining representative organizations. This essay argues that small boat fishers are a heterogeneous group expressive of divergent and often conflicting ideologies and behaviors. We contend that the character and play of these differences imp...

This paper explores the fit between the reported and the desired contributions of wives to household small boat fishing enterprises. The research employed a double comparative design: 1) a regional comparison of fisheries-dependent households in North Norway and Nova Scotia, and 2) a dyadic gender comparison of the viewpoints of wives and husbands....

In this essay we contend that the culturally defined boundaries distinguishing the pure from the impure constitute a central dimension of identity construction and maintenance. Moreover, in cultures characterized by forms of structured social inequality, those occupyingpositions of advantage and domination are positioned to reaffirm their situation...

This essay examines the experiences of forty-eight wife assault victims within medical settings. Various qualitative features of the doctor-patient encounter were explored by using a closed-ended questionnaire. The survey data revealed that the physician's knowledge of the spousal abuse impacted little on the provision of physical examinations and...

En nous fondant sur des études de cas, nous démontrons que le succès des sociétés coopératives de pêcheurs indépendants (small-boat-fishers), dépend dans une large mesure, de leur loyauté envers la coopérative, surtout dans les cas où ils sont peu satisfaits de la gestion de la coopérative en question. En plus, nous démontrons que la capacité de la...

Dans la région atlantique du Canada, les revenus de la plupart de ceux qui se consacrent à la pêche commerciale sont insuffisants à cause des frais de ménage et de participation. Néanmoins, des dizaines de milliers de personnes continuent à faire de la pêche leur occupation première. Dans cet essai, nous examinons une étude de cas et des données d'...

This note updates a previous article on socio-economic survey data of Atlantic Canadian fishermen. It completes the previous analysis by presenting data on total enterprise costs and net fishing incomes.

The authors reanalyse an earlier study on income distribution among Atlantic Canadian fishermen. They distinguish between inshore and offshore sectors and point out the different role of capital in the creation of owners and nonowners, captains and crewmen. Advice is given on constructing public policies that will benefit participants' livelihoods.

Mired in yet another economic crisis, the Atlantic Canadian commercial fisheries are undergoing a reorganization of immense proportions and far-reaching consequences. This essay examines the analysis of the industry and the blueprint for reorganization advanced by the Task Force on Atlantic Fisheries in their final report, Navigating Troubled Water...

Despite massive federal/provincial government financial and policy interventions in the Atlantic Canadian Fisheries, relations between small boat fishermen and various levels of the state are rife with a pervasive alienation, distrust and conflict. This essay examines attributes and consequences of state intervention in the fisheries. Small boat fi...

Unpublished PhD thesis