Jurisdictional conflicts in resource management : perspectives on the Canadian west coast commercial fishing industry
Date
1984
Authors
Phillips, Alan George
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Abstract
Management of the Canadian west coast commercial fishery has become increasingly complex and crisis oriented. The future of the fishing industry appears threatened by a number of developments internal and external to the fishery, consequently there is stress on the federal agency which is largely responsible for the management of the resource. In the past two decades the competition for fish resources and fish habitat has increased significantly and management problems have arisen.
While the agency responsible for the management of the fishery has jurisdictional authority in the primary sector of the industry, the management of fish habitat is constrained by jurisdictional uncertainties. Discord in habitat management objectives has evolved because federal legislative authority conflicts with provincial proprietary rights in other areas such as forest or water resource management. As a result of this discord, incompatible resource uses have periodically resulted in federal-provincial conflict . Drawing from conflict theory and r elated concepts , this study describes how some fishery management issues escalated to a conflict stage and how the conflict attenuated through different conflict reducing activities. The study concludes that while jurisdictional uncertainties appear to contribute to conflict development in the fishery, methods of conflict prevention do exist.