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The Political Economy and Ecology of Capture Fisheries: Market Dynamics, Resource Access and Relations of Exploitation and Resistance
Author(s) -
CAMPLING LIAM,
HAVICE ELIZABETH,
McCALL HOWARD PENNY
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of agrarian change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.63
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1471-0366
pISSN - 1471-0358
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0366.2011.00356.x
Subject(s) - livelihood , political ecology , agrarian society , context (archaeology) , consumption (sociology) , resource (disambiguation) , production (economics) , politics , economic system , economics , ecology , fishery , economy , political science , agriculture , geography , biology , sociology , social science , computer network , macroeconomics , archaeology , computer science , law
Capture fisheries are constituted through historically specific environmental conditions and social and economic relations of production. Fisheries, whether saltwater or freshwater, are an important source of animal protein, livelihoods and exchange value in international trade, and are presently undergoing rapid socio‐ecological change. To explore the political economy and ecology of capture fisheries around the world, this paper synthesizes the insights of 11 empirical studies and places fisheries in the broader context of the capitalist relations of production through which they operate. The competitive market dynamics of fisheries production and consumption are examined, as well as the forms of social‐property relations, social differentiation, labour exploitation and resistance that occur within them. This paper highlights some of the ways in which the unique combination of characteristics associated with fish and fisheries complement and complicate familiar questions in agrarian political economy. It concludes by identifying future research directions.