Faculty Publications
"To Fish or Not to Fish?": Fishing Communities of Arctic Yakutia in the Face of Environmental Change and Political Transformations
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Polar Record
Volume
53
Issue
3
First Page
289
Last Page
303
Abstract
This paper assesses the vulnerability of Arctic fishing communities. We hypothesise that climate change related trends, such as increasing temperature and altered seasonality, and shocks, such as the breakdown of the Soviet Union or new fishing regulations, increase vulnerability of local Arctic peoples and compromise the sustainability of their livelihoods. Research shows that over recent decades local people have observed environmental changes and a significant decrease in the number of fish caught. Fishing regulations introduced after the collapse of the Soviet Union burdened fishers with quotas and temporal limitations that have hindered their fishing activities. While the adaptability of traditional fishing techniques to seasonally changing conditions might indicate the potential to adapt to future conditions under climate change, fishing regulations appear to limit this potential to adapt.
Department
Department of Geography
Original Publication Date
5-3-2017
DOI of published version
10.1017/S0032247417000134
Recommended Citation
Ksenofontov, Stanislav; Backhaus, Norman; and Schaepman-Strub, Gabriela, ""To Fish or Not to Fish?": Fishing Communities of Arctic Yakutia in the Face of Environmental Change and Political Transformations" (2017). Faculty Publications. 6410.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/6410
