{"id":11137,"date":"2022-03-14t18:36:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-14t18:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/fishing-harbors-community-development-and-climate-change-threaten-it\/"},"modified":"2022-03-14t18:36:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14t18:36:20","slug":"fishing-harbors-community-development-and-climate-change-threaten-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/fishing-harbors-community-development-and-climate-change-threaten-it\/","title":{"rendered":"fishing harbors community; development and climate change threaten it"},"content":{"rendered":"
the breeze was constant on the sunshine skyway north fishing pier. wind could be felt against bare skin and heard zipping through the fishing lines of dozens of avid fishermen and women. <\/p>\n
\u201ci took the lead!\u201d a woman shouted to her husband. she reels in a small, bait-sized fish. but nothing big enough to keep. <\/p>\n
\u201csixteen to fifteen,\u201d her husband, mark, said. \u201cwe keep track of fish and see who catches the most.\u201d <\/p>\n
their cat, scamper, roams around the truck of her owners mark and his wife, michelle. white patches stick out on scamper\u2019s mostly brown fur; her pink, sparkled collar, though, stands out even more. two years ago, mark and michelle rescued scamper from a bad home life.<\/p>\n
now, scamper likes to prowl on the piers and lounge on the dash of their truck. the truck is more than just a relaxation spot for scamper, though. <\/p>\n
\u201ci got a grill on the back of my truck with charcoal,\u201d mark said. \u201ci\u2019ll filet (fish) right there.\u201d <\/p>\n
once the fish are cooked, mark says he\u2019ll offer the cooked filets to anyone around. during one of the last weekends of december 2021, mark said he caught a lot of spanish mackerel to cook for everyone on the pier.<\/p>\n
but cooked fish aren\u2019t the only thing being shared among the fishing community in the tampa bay area. according to mark and michelle, the community has always been friendly to them. <\/p>\n
\u201cyou run out of bait, you don\u2019t have any money, someone will give you bait. always,\u201d mark said. \u201cif you need line, someone will give you line. whatever you need if you don\u2019t have it, the next fisherman will share it.\u201d <\/p>\n
interactions like this show just how important fishing communities are to people around the world. <\/p>\n
\u201ci would describe (urban fishing) as vital, because it\u2019s vital in so many ways,\u201d dr. no\u00eblle boucquey of eckerd college said. \u201cthere\u2019s so many different benefits that people get from fishing in urban spaces.\u201d <\/p>\n
boucquey and anthropologist dr. jessie fly have been researching interactions like this through a study called the \u201curban fishing project,\u201d in which student observers go out and take field observations and record interviews with people fishing in various areas around the tampa bay area. <\/p>\n
boucquey has been interested in fisheries since her days of being a graduate student. during her early years at eckerd, she found that fly had similar interests. they decided to collaborate and start this research project. <\/p>\n
\u201cfishing is such a great example of activities that bring people in close relationships to their environment,\u201d boucquey said. \u201cso it\u2019s a great way to study the more theoretical concepts about how people develop their relationships with their environments in particular spaces.\u201d <\/p>\n
dr. angela collins is a florida sea grant extension agent through the university of florida who works with the manatee, hillsborough, and sarasota counties. collins connects closely with commercial and recreational fisheries stakeholders, and agrees that people more closely related to these sorts of environments have a stronger desire to protect them. <\/p>\n
\u201cpeople want to protect what they care about,\u201d collins said. \u201cand if they don\u2019t have the opportunity to experience fishing, they\u2019re not going to have that experience and passion to want to preserve it.\u201d <\/p>\n
boucquey and fly published some of their findings in a 2021 paper titled \u201ccontested commoning: urban fishing spaces and community wellbeing.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n they summarize in the paper that fishing is valued as much more than a simple pastime. <\/p>\n \u201cfish provide food, cultural connections, and social capital currency while the spaces and practices of fishing provide relaxation and entertainment,\u201d the paper states.<\/p>\n people go fishing for many different reasons, something that is backed up by boucquey and fly\u2019s paper. whether it\u2019s for sport, subsistence or to just have a clear mental space, fishing can play a huge part in people’s lives. <\/p>\n in terms of subsistence, this research found that 77% of respondents kept fish that they caught, while 17% of the respondents could be classified as food insecure. on top of that, 11% of respondents used fishing to prevent hunger. <\/p>\n fishing also supports diverse communities and interactions between diverse groups of people, both economically and ethnically. <\/p>\n \u201cour surveys showed that there was a huge range, people with very high incomes next to people with very low incomes,\u201d boucquey said. \u201cand that in and of itself is really interesting because there\u2019s not a lot of spaces where you find those people together.\u201d <\/p>\n from 293 respondents in boucquey and fly\u2019s surveys, 52% identified as \u201cwhite including mixed,\u201d 15% as \u201cblack including mixed,\u201d 22% as \u201clatinx including mixed,\u201d 11% as \u201casian including mixed,\u201d \u201d 3% as \u201cmixed, no ethnicities specified\u201d and 3% as \u201cnative american or caribbean including mixed.\u201d <\/p>\n fishing communities all around the world vary in their social dynamics, but those in florida especially have a profound sense of identity. <\/p>\n \u201cfor people that live here, it\u2019s a source of identity for a lot of people,\u201d collins said. \u201cthere\u2019s the family heritage, you grew up fishing with your parents and want to share it with your kids. but then there\u2019s also the importance of being able to go out and catch dinner if you need to.\u201d <\/p>\n fisheries, along with being promoters of community, are also strong economic drivers. in florida alone, fisheries generate close to $15 billion according to a study from 2017<\/a>. <\/p>\n