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| The Lobster Fiefs Revisited: Economic and Ecological Effects of Territoriality in Maine Lobster Fishing - The central Maine coast a concurrent Institution |
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Reference |
| Acheson, James M.: " The Lobster Fiefs Revisited: Economic and Ecological Effects of Territoriality in Maine Lobster Fishing." in James M. Acheson & Bonnie J. McCay (eds.): " The Question of the Commons. The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources.", p.p. 37-65, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 198 and James M. Acheson: " Where Have All the Exploiters Gone ? Co-Management of the Maine Lobster Industry." in Fikret Berkes (ed.): "Common Property Resources. Ecology and community-based sustainable development.", p.p. 199-217, Belhaven Press, London, 1989. |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| The lobster fishermen in Maine have established informal rules of territorial regulation alongside the formal government regulation. These rules provide exclusive ownership of fishing areas to individuals or groups. It also seems to function as a system of conservation; since the 1940'es lobster catches have been relatively stable, varying from 16 to 21.7 million pounds a year (1982 numbers). In the 1970'es there were about 9000 lobstermen in Maine of which 2300 were working fulltime. Generally they use the same techniques. The lobsters are caught in 3 - 4 feet long wooden traps, marked with a buoy on the surface. They are usually placed in the water in long rows, so that a man can see from one buoy to another in the fog. On a good day a lobsterman can pull up to 200 traps. Typically lobstermen will have 4-600 traps each. They fish alone from 28-32 feet long boats equipped with modern technology such as depth sounders, hydraulic trap haulers and radios. Activity varies greatly from season to season. During winter (January, February and March) the lobsters migrate to deeper waters, three to ten miles off shore. During this period fishing is relatively dangerous and unprofitable. The weather can be rough and trap losses increase. Some lobster men will stay ashore and build traps during this period or use their boats for fishing scallops and shrimps. The busiest periods are spring (April 15 - June 15) and fall (August 15 - November 15). Over 65% of the catch is done in the Fall. During the molting season (Roughly June 15 - August 15) catches are very low, and most lobstermen will bring their traps ashore and do maintenance work on their gear. |
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Coverage of the Institution |
| The central Maine coast. The institution is concurrent. |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| SOCIAL BOUNDARIES: To go fishing, formally one must have a license issued by the State of Maine. Informally, one should be accepted by the other fishermen from the harbour (The "Harbour Gang") and show that one will abide to their norms. Normally such acceptance will be easier for people who already belongs to the community, through residence or kinship, such as a young local boy who wish to take up fishing. More difficulties will be experienced for outsiders, especially parttimers who have other job opportunities. Members of a harbour gang can only go fishing in the territory which belongs to their harbour. If the harbour uses perimeter defended territories (see below),acceptance from the harbour gang is not enough. Then one should either have achieved the rental rights for a fishing area or one should be from a family which owns land and adjacent waters within the harbour territory.
SPATIAL BOUNDARIES: The fishing territories of the central Maine coast. Formal rules made by the State of Maine only requires a license. Anyone who has a license can go fishing anywhere. Informal rules has set up more explicit territorial boundaries. A fishing territory in this system belongs to the harbour fishermen are fishing of. Harbour territories are relatively small. They do not exceed 100 square miles and normally they will be much smaller. Territories are recognized by landmarks, rocks, trees, buildings etc. along the shore. Offshore boundaries will be marked by landmarks and islands. There are two types of harbour territories. In nucleated territories, the longer you get from the shore, the less definite the boundary will be, and mixed fishing (The same area being fished by fishermen from different harbour gangs) is tolerated - partly because boundaries are more difficult to define far off shore, and partly because competition is low in the season where fishing is done in these areas (winter). Still, areas close to the harbour are very well defined and should not be trespassed by outsiders. The other type of harbour territories is perimeter defended territories, in which boundaries are and must be respected to a much wider extend. This system is used on the islands in the eastern part of the area. But as well as lobstermen with perimeter defended territories do a lot to maintain the territorial boundaries and to prevent intruders from fishing in these areas, they are unlikely to be fishing outside their own territory. Thus, the major difference between nucleated and perimeter defended areas is the degree to which mixed fishing is allowed. |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| FORMAL RULES: The State of Maine has jurisdiction out to three miles from shore. To fish, a license is required and traps and buoys should be marked with license number and assigned coulours. Violations result in court action and suspension of licenses. The state has also established size regulation and rules for protecting breeding females.
INFORMAL RULES: Informal rules are governed by the Harbour gang. Violations of territorial regulations will lead to sanctions, initially by warnings, but if they have no effect, fishing gear, such as traps, buoys may be damaged, often simply by cutting the buoy line so that the trap will be lost. Sanctions are most likely to be imposed on newcomers and parttimers. Old, wellestablished fishermen can often break boundaries without being sanctioned, but they also face limits, and consistent boundary violation is not likely to be accepted. It is not reported if sanctions are the result of collective or individual action. Though the actual damaging of gear is most likely to be executed by an individual, it could be the result of discussions within a larger forum. |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| FORMAL RULES: The state of Maine has made laws for conservation of the lobster population. A legal lobster must have a carpace length of more than 3 3/16 inches and less than 5 inches. Breeding females should be thrown back.
INFORMAL RULES: In both nucleated and perimeter defended areas, claims over ocean are closely tied to formal ownership of land. Ownership of land on an island provides the owner with the right to fish in the waters nearby the island. The waters around islands are typically perimeter-defended. At one occasion a small island was purchased, only for the purpose of getting the fishing rights. In perimeter defended areas, the sence of ownership is so strong, that even if the owner is not using the fishing area, others are not allowed to fish it. In such cases the owner can rent out the area. Such rentals are often done on a long term basis. In the perimeter defended areas, lobstermen have voluntarily agreed to limit the number of traps they fish. The rate of fishing area pr. boat is much higher in perimeter defended areas. 1.32 sq. km. pr. boat in nucleated areas and 3.48 sq. km. pr. boat perimeter-defended areas (1975). |
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Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| Conflict caused by rule violations are seldomly exposed to the public. Neither the one who has executed the sanction nor the rule violator is likely to reveal what has happened. This makes it very difficult for public agencies to intervene in conflicts. Minor violations and sanctions happen on a regular basis but only seldom (once in a decade) they will excalate into major lobster "wars" in which groups (harbour gangs) are fighting each other. |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| Not reported. |
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Changes in the Institution over time |
| Before the 1920'es all fishing areas of the district were perimeter defended areas. Off shore winter fishing was very limited due to inadequate technology. The range of boats was limited and so was their manouverability in rough weather. Furthermore manual trap hauling was a major task in deep water fishing. Hence, lobstermen depended heavily on the catches from coastal fishery in the spring and the autumn and territorial boundaries of the coastal fishing areas were maintained zealously. The introduction of motorized boats (1930'es) and hydraulic trap haulers widened the scope for off shore fishing. The range of the boats increased and trap hauling was made easier. This also meant the breakdown of several perimeter defended territories. First of all the technological improvements enabled lobstermen to fish in off-shore areas where boundaries had not been properly established, and furthermore were difficult to define. Secondly, the appearance of alternative income possibilities (off-shore fishing) weakened the willingness to defend the boundaries of the perimeter defended territories. Thirdly, the ability and willingness to form political groups which were able to maintain political pressure was an important factor in this period of change: Lobstermen from communities located by estuaries were earlier under pressure from two sides; from towns further up the rivers and from towns in the bay. Thus, they could only fish close to their harbor during the summermonths. As the range of equipment improved, they purchased expensive large boats capable of ocean fishing. This forced them to fish year-round and invade other areas to manage the costs. For the men in the invaded areas this situation was far from ideal, but facing opponents who had put all of their eggs in one basket, they knew that attempts to stop the intruders would mean a full scale "war" resulting in financial losses. Boundary breakdowns were mostly attempted by the lobstermen from estuary-located communities, and this still shows today, as the erosion of perimeter defended areas is most evident by the mouths of estuaries. The major factors which has allowed some perimeter defended areas to be maintained are; their location - most of the perimeter defended areas are located around islands in the bay, and often the distance is enough to prevent others from intruding, and; the ability to establish political groups who are willing to defend the territory - the lobstermen of island communities have been better organized than the lobstermen from the mainland. Also, the degree of social integration and economical interdependence is much higher among islanders while the range of economical alternatives is very small. |
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Other Features of Institution |
| The trap limit in perimeter defended areas serves two purposes. First of all production costs are lowered and secondly it helps to conserve the lobster population. A limited number of traps means that the lobsterman will keep better track of them, pull them more frequently, and loose fewer traps. This reduces lobster mortality, as the lobsters are not caught in lost traps and molting lobsters, which would otherwise have been ate by their brethren, are released. Some evidence to these hypothesis are given through the fact, that the mean carapace length of lobsters caught in perimeter-defended areas is higher than in the nucleated areas (89.9 mm. in perimeter-defended areas, 87.9 mm in nucleated areas). This affects the breathing stock, as females are more prone to become sexually mature when the carapace length is more than 90 mm. In one perimeter defended territory, Monhegan Island, a closed season has been imposed since the early years of this century (June 25 - January 1). |
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Purpose |
| Territorial regulation and conservation of lobster population. |
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Country |
| USA |
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Region |
| Central Maine coast, State of Maine |
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Date Of Publication |
| TroB 260396 |
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