Fishing as Therapy: Impacts on Job Satisfaction and Implications for Fishery Management

This study presents unique comparisons, across space and time, regarding aspects of fishers’ perception of their job satisfaction and well-being between two geographic areas where fishing constitutes integral part of the local economy and culture: the Northeast Region US and the Caribbean. Examining differences in aspects of job satisfaction and well-being in such highly different environments (both human and natural) will provide information for developing models to understand how different stressors (e.g. changes in the natural, socio-cultural, economic and managerial environments) affect those whose livelihoods depend directly on fishery resources. Models elucidating relationships between environmental and anthropogenic changes and the well-being of resource dependent populations will provide indispensable input for the development of strategies that incorporate both natural and human objectives in preserving and maintaining essential ecosystem services. (from the second page