Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Jackson, Donald C.

Committee Member

Dibble, Eric D.

Committee Member

Kröger, Robert

Committee Member

Miranda, Leandro E.

Date of Degree

5-17-2014

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Forest Resources

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Abstract

This study was initiated to assess the biological, ecological and sociological aspects of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, fishery associated with the Pascagoula River Estuary in southern Mississippi. Household surveys were conducted in the cities of Moss Point and Pascagoula, Mississippi, September 2010 to September 2011, to identify, describe and classify subsistence fishing activities associated with the estuary. A stock assessment of blue crab was conducted to determine how biological and environmental variability affect the people engaged in this subsistence fishery. The study revealed two types of subsistence fishing occurring in the Moss Point/Pascagoula area. The first type involves fishing as a livelihood strategy based on economic dependence, and the second type involves fishing as a lifestyle choice based on economic independence. Both are based on customary and traditional patterns of local resource use and consumption and maintained by reciprocal kinship-based social networks. The blue crab fishery in the Pascagoula River Estuary was highly variable and exhibited strong seasonal and spatial patterns in distribution and abundance. Subsistence fishers in the region have developed strategies to cope with this biological and environmental variability. These region-specific strategies include but are not limited to: fishing using multiple gears simultaneously (rod and reel and crab nets), freezing fish, relying on other natural resources including agriculture and wildlife, and generalized reciprocity.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19301

Comments

blue crab||subsistence||human dimensions||Pascagoula River

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