Revaluing Coastal Fisheries : How Small Boats Navigate New Markets and Technology

This book illustrates and explains the consequences of neoliberal reform on rural economies. Based on an ethnographic case study of coastal fisheries in Iceland, it poses the following questions: How are rural fishers navigating liberal capitalism? And how are new markets, property-rights and digital technologies transforming rural economies? By drawing on an extensive body of literature on economic sociology and science and technology studies, the book offers a novel understanding of the role of market-based reform for rural development. Preface 5 Contents 10 List of Figures 12 1 Introduction 14 Coastal Fisheries—A Polanyian Countermovement? 19 Fishing in Liberal Capitalism 22 Preparing for Departure 25 Why Study Small Boats? 29 Itinerary 30 Back to Business... 33 References 34 2 Fishing in Market-Based Resource Management 38 Fishing in Social Relations 40 Fishing in Institutions 44 Fishing in Discourse 47 Fishing in Regimes of Production 48 The Cyborgisation of the Fisheries 50 Conclusion: Fishing in Networks, Instutions and and Socio-Technical Discourse 54 References 56 3 Economising Rural Independence 62 Disentangling Small Boats 65 From Dead Fish to Lively Capital 67 From Resilient Peasantry to Independent Market Actors 72 The Architecture of the Small Boat Economy 73 The Fish Auction 75 Re-entangling Small Boats 78 Investing in Independence 78 Capitalising on Small Boats 81 Betting on the Future 83 Economising Expectations 88 Reviving the Life in the Harbour? 92 Conclusion: Unfulfilled Expectations 94 References 97 4 The Practice of Fishing 100 The Floating Workshop 102 Skilful Coping in the Wheelhouse 103 The World of the Fisher 108 When the Fishing Line Gets Tangled 110 The Novice 112 The Care of the Skipper 114 Fishing to the Limit 120 Fishing with Others 125 Beyond Formal Hierarchy 127 Conclusion: Fishing as Socio-Technical Practice 132 References 133 5 Enframing the Sea 135 Modern Technology as Enframing 138 Fishing with Scopes 142 Conclusion: The Human Limits to Technology 145 References 148 6 When the Fish Ignore the Market 149 More-Than-Human Market Environments 153 Adjusting the Market to the Flows of the Sea 156 Tinkering with Accounts 157 Socio-Technical Conversion 159 Redefining Boundaries 164 Processing Uncertainty 167 Concluding Remarks: The Limits of Market-Based Resource Management 170 References 173 7 Fishing for Quality 175 Qualifying Goods in Markets 179 The Quality-Turn 181 Teaching Quality 182 Catching Quality 185 Caring for Quality 186 Landing the Fish 187 Cutting It Clean 187 Storing and Cooling the Fish 188 Producing Quality 190 The Booming Fresh Fish Market 191 Authentic Protein 193 The Valorisation of Line-Caught Fish 196 Conclusion: A New Culture of Quality 197 References 198 8 The Fishery Panopticon 200 The Problem of Quality Uncertainty in Fish Markets 202 Scopic Fisheries 203 The Facebook of the Sea 205 Watching One Another 208 The Scopic Valuation of Quality 210 Tracking Quality 211 Enframing Local Knowledge 213 Controlling Market Identities 214 Conclusion: Towards a Panoptic Valuation Regime 216 References 219 9 A New Culture of Liberal Rural Capitalism 221 Who Is Bjartur? 223 (Dis)Entangling Rural Economies 224 The Transformation of Rural Independence 230 How Big Can Small Be? 232 References 234 Appendix 237 Hook and Line Fisheries 237 Figures 244 References 250 Bibliography 252 Index 267 Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv Introduction (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 1-24 Fishing in Market-Based Resource Management (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 25-48 Economising Rural Independence (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 49-86 The Practice of Fishing (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 87-121 Enframing the Sea (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 123-136 When the Fish Ignore the Market (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 137-162 Fishing for Quality (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 163-187 The Fishery Panopticon (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 189-209 A New Culture of Liberal Rural Capitalism (Alexander Dobeson)....Pages 211-226 Back Matter ....Pages 227-266 This text illustrates and explains the consequences of neoliberal reform on rural economies. Based on an ethnographic case study of coastal fisheries in Iceland, it poses the following questions: How are rural fishers navigating liberal capitalism? And how are new markets, property-rights, and digital technologies transforming rural economies? By drawing on an extensive body of literature on economic sociology and science and technology studies, the book offers a novel understanding of the role of market-based reform for rural development