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Promoting environmental sensitivity within the fishing industry

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Summary

The traditional fishing and shellfishing industries of New England depend on the vitality and renewability of the marine environment for their economic health, yet they have historically overfished species to near-depletion, resisted attempts to manage their resources, and discharged their wastes into coastal waters. In 1979, the Massachusetts Audubon Society established Resources for Cape Ann, a local program based in Gloucester, Massachusetts (the highest volume fishing port in New England), designed to encourage environmental sensitivity within the fishing and shellfishing industry. Among the techniques available for environmental education, Resources for Cape Ann chose to pursue cooperative political alliances on issues of common concern (e.g. Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas exploration and pollution of intertidal shellfish flats). Through these alliances, program staff built credibility and mutual understanding with key leaders of the industry, and then sought to translate that understanding into support for improved shellfish resource management and reduced fish processing waste discharges. Though this approach relies heavily on intense personal contact and though it at times requires the submergence of purely environmental concerns so as not to antagonize political allies, it has succeeded in improving shellfishermen awareness and building credibility among the fishing industry in general.

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Daniel S. Greenbaum is the Director of Resources for Cape Ann, a local environmental program of the Massachusetts Audubon Society based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He directs a small professional staff and has been responsible for overall design of community outreach and communication for the program. He formerly was senior environmental planner for the Massachusetts Port Authority, and has consulted for state transportation agencies in Massachusetts, Vermont and California on incorporating environmental concerns and public participation into the highway planning process. He holds a Masters of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Greenbaum, D.S. Promoting environmental sensitivity within the fishing industry. Environmentalist 3, 199–208 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02240109

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