In our Research Highlights blog series, we debut newly published fisheries research by our women of fisheries colleagues. If you have research you would like to highlight and share with our readers, submit a nomination form here!
This Month’s Research Highlight:
Smith, S.L., S. Cook, A. Golden, M.A. Iwane, D. Kleiber, K.M. Leong, A. Mastitski, L. Richmond, M. Szymkowiak, S. Wise. 2022. Review of adaptations of U.S. Commercial Fisheries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic using the Resist- Accept- Direct(RAD) framework. Fisheries Management and Ecology 29:439–455.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world in so many ways – maybe in ways you haven’t yet considered. Here, we focus on the pandemic’s effects on the commercial fishing industry in the United States and its varying responses. It is a story of hardship and uncertainty, of resilience and adaptation, and ultimately of lessons learned for the future.
Dr. Sarah Lindley Smith, a Fisheries Social Scientist and Fisheries Consultant with Salt Pond Consulting, joined forces with nine of her colleagues doing similar COVID-related fisheries research throughout the United States. It all started with a panel discussion at the Society of Applied Anthropology’s annual meeting in early 2021 – a virtual meeting, of course, since the pandemic was still in full swing. Although some had worked together in the past, this “meetup” provided an opportunity to bring additional experts together and form a new collaboration.
When the pandemic first hit, the world seemed to come to a screeching halt. Dr. Sarah Lindley Smith describes some of the ways that the U.S. commercial fisheries were directly impacted by the COVID pandemic. “Particularly during the first several months of the pandemic, when restaurants were shut down or operating at a reduced capacity, and many supply chains were slowed or stopped, fishers took a significant hit. The price of seafood dropped significantly for many species, and some could not find buyers for their catch, meaning their fishing revenue declined considerably. Some fishers were forced to leave fishing. However, we found that the majority of fishers continued fishing, either generally earning less for their catch, or in some cases finding alternative markets.”
The authors used the Risk-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework to describe the different commercial fishing industry responses to the pandemic. They then used this information to help inform future management efforts and better prepare for future challenges. The RAD framework is generally used in an ecological context, but the authors were able to adapt this approach to define covid-response strategies:
- Resist – actions that tried to maintain the industry as is, such as working harder or in unsafe conditions to make ends meet or obtaining loans to cover losses
- Accept – actions that followed changes in the system, such as adjusting to less costly fishing and business practices, switching to barter or subsistence fishing, or relying more on community programs
- Direct – actions that actively tried to change the industry structure, such as targeting new species, changing career sectors (e.g., from commercial fishing to aquaculture), focusing on direct sales, or creating alternative marketing strategies
What Dr. Sarah Lindley Smith and her co-authors found was that commercial fishers were generally resilient and adaptable to system stresses brought on by the pandemic. However, she notes, “the pandemic highlighted many of the weaknesses of fishery systems overall, particularly when it comes to markets and supply chains. For example, the majority of US-caught seafood is exported, and the majority of seafood consumed here is imported, which is both inefficient and also has implications for our national food security.” Most responses could be considered Resist strategies – like those noted above – that ultimately resulted in no change to the industry structure. While this may have had short-term benefits by providing much needed support during a challenging time, the reliance on these strategies may leave the commercial fishing industry vulnerable to impacts of future disruptions by not adopting strategies for longer term resilience.
As another big takeaway message, Dr. Sarah Lindley Smith stresses the value of direct sales and alternative strategies for fishers in times of disruption and uncertainty. By selling food directly to consumers, such as with in-person venues like farmers markets or online, some of the issues with pricing and supply chains were limited or avoided altogether. Other fishers started new business ventures that they continued even as the pandemic eased. “I do think fishers are by nature very adaptive,” states Dr. Sarah Lindley Smith, “ they need to be for their line of work – and learning how to adapt to this particular disruption increases their flexibility to adapt to other future changes.”
I hope we don’t see another disruption like this any time soon, but even storm clouds can have a silver lining. This pandemic brought about a unique collaboration of researchers and insight that can help managers and commercial fishers weather other storms in the future. Even more importantly, in spite of all the hardship and pain this pandemic caused, you can see the kindness and resilience of the human spirit shine through. I was especially touched by the following quote from one commercial fisher cited in the manuscript:
We donated a lot of fish and still continue to donate a lot of fresh fish to, you know, nonprofits that serve food to our kūpuna [elders], to our neighbors, to those in need, to those who are facing hunger crises. And so, you know, maybe 2020 wasn’t a profitable year in terms of the bottom line, but it’s allowed us to really focus on what we can do, you know, as a food producing partner in the community.
Oʻahu, Pacific Island Region fisher
How we deal with crises may vary, but at the end of the day, we are all in this together.
Dr. Sarah Lindley Smith’s future plans involve research focusing on adaptations of fishers to future climate-driven changes.
The full manuscript can be found and downloaded here:
doi.org/10.1111/fme.12567