NAArc
Environment and Social Change in
the North Atlantic Arc
A study of linkages between environment and social change in four
fisheries-dependent regions of the northern Atlantic: Newfoundland/Labrador, Greenland, Iceland and Norway.
The project integrates natural science (oceanography and biology) with both quantitative and qualitative social
science. In two stages, it has been supported mainly by grants from the Arctic System Science (1996-2000) and
Arctic Social Sciences (2000-2003) programs of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Project goals:
- document changes in fisheries-dependent societies; also in ocean climate, and associated shifts in fish distribution
and fish community structure;
- construct a detailed picture of common patterns and regional differences in the dynamics of human-environment
interactions;
- explore hypotheses about individual, community and enterprise adaptations to large-scale environmental change;
and
- develop empirical knowledge and models for evaluating possible policy responses.
Main research activities:
- assembling and analyzing oceanographic, biological, fisheries
and socioeconomic databases, at the finest practical scales,
for each of the four study regions;
- conducting two in-depth and four overview community case
studies; and
- developing an integrated environment/fisheries/employment
model for policy research.
Principal Investigators: