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West Greenland's Cod-to-Shrimp Transition: Local Dimensions of Climate Change |
 West Greenland's transition from a cod-fishing to a shrimp-fishing economy, ca. 1960–90, provides a case study in the human dimensions of climatic change. Physical, biological, and social systems interacted in complex ways to affect coastal communities. For this integrated case study, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Benjamin C. Brown and Rasmus Ole Rasmussen examine linkages between atmospheric conditions (including the North Atlantic Oscillation), ocean circulation, ecosystem conditions, fishery activities, and the livelihoods and population changes of two West Greenland towns: Sisimiut, south of Disko Bay, and Paamiut, on the southwest coast. Sisimiut prospered as a fishing center through the cod-to-shrimp transition. Paamiut, more specialized in cod fishing, declined. Their stories suggest two general propositions about the human dimensions of climatic change. First, socially important environmental changes result not simply from climatic change, but from interactions between climate, ecosystem, and resource usage. Second, environmental changes affect people differentially and through interactions with social factors. Social networks and cohesion (social capital) are important, in addition to skills (human capital), investments (physical capital), and alternative resources (natural capital): all shape how the benefits and costs are distributed.
Published with permission from the authors and Arctic Institute of North America.
West Greenland's Cod-to-Shrimp Transition: Local Dimensions of Climate Change
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Faroe Islands Fisheries and Aquaculture: Responsible Management for a Sustainable Future |
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 This brochure, published by the Faroese Ministry of Fisheries and Natural Resources presents an overview of Faroese policies and approches to the responsible management of fisheries and aquaculture. The brochure was produced in cooperation between relevant ministries, agencies, scientific institutes and fisheries associations.
Faroe Islands Fisheries and Aquaculture: Responsible Management for a Sustainable Future
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Hunting and Management of Beluga Whales in Greenland: Changing Stratagies to Cope with New National and Local Interests |
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In the 20th century, Greenland went through rapid socioeconomic and political changes that have altered the interests and concerns of Greenland’s hunters. For example, these changes can be observed in the way huntes divide a catch of beluga whales. In this article, Frank Sejersen focuses on how beluga hunters have negotiated new ways of dividing the catch in order to respond to new needs and demands.
Published with permission from Frank Sejersen and Arctic Institute of North America
Hunting and Management of Beluga Whales in Greenland: Changing Stratagies to Cope with New National and Local Interests
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The Integrative and Cultural Role of Hunting and Subsistence in Greenland |
 Jens Dahl dicusses two modes of production that coexist in Greenland and they are inextricably bound together; commercial fishing on the one hand, subsistence hunting and fishing on the other. On the basis of examples drawn from the settlement of Saqqaq, this paper highlights the intergrative and cultural functions of sealing, beluga hunting and traditional fishing. Analysis of these examples shows that in the Greenlandic context the differentiation between commercial and non-commercial is meaningless.
Published with permission from Jens Dahl and Études/Inuit/Studies
The Integrative and Cultural Role of Hunting and Subsistence in Greenland |
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Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling in Greenland: The Case of Qeqertarsuaq Municipality in West Greenland |
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Richard A. Caulfield discusses policy debates in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) about aboriginal subsistence whaling focus on the changing significance of whaling in the mixed economies of contemporary Inuit communities. In Greenland, Inuit hunters have taken whales for over 4000 years as part of a multispecies pattern of marine harvesting. However, ecological dynamics, Euroamerican exploitation of the North Atlantic bowhead whale (Balaena mysticem), Danish colonial policies, and growing linkages to the world economy have drastically altered whaling practices. Instead of using the umiaq and hand-thrown harpoons, Greenlandic hunters today use harpoon cannons mounted on fishing vessels and fiberglass skiffs with powerful outboard motors. Products from minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) provide both food for local consumption and limited amounts of cash, obtained through the sale of whale products for food to others. Greenlanders view this practice as a form of sustainable development, where local renewable resources are used to support livelihoods that would otherwise be dependent upon imported goods. Export of whale products from Greenland is prohibited by law. However, limited trade in whale products within the country is consistent with longstanding Inuit practices of distribution and exchange. Nevertheless, within the IWC critics argue that even limited commoditization of whale products could lead to overexploitation should hunters seek to pursue profit-maximization strategies. Debates continue about the appropriateness of cash and commoditization in subsistence whaling and about the ability of indigenous management regimes to ensure the protection of whale stocks. This case study describes contemporary whaling in Qeqertarsuaq Municipality in West Greenland, demonstrating that despite significant changes, whaling is an integral part of Greenland’s mixed economy and a vital component of Greenlandic Inuit cultural identity. The social organization of whaling continues to be kinship-based, and Greenlandic foods, including whale products, are prominent in local diets and in cultural celebrations. The research reveals that Greenlanders participate in whaling not to maximize profits but in order to sustain cultural traditions and to reduce dependency on tenuous links to the world economy.
Published with permission from Richard A. Caulfield and the Arctic Insitute of North America.
Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling in Greenland: The Case of Qeqertarsuaq Municipality in West Greenland |
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