Zhao, Wenrui: An Investigation of Fishing Communities’ Adaptation Strategies and Disappearances

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Title: An Investigation of Fishing Communities’ Adaptation Strategies and Disappearances

Name: Wenrui Zhao

Major: Mathematics and Geography

School affiliation: School of Arts and Sciences

Programs: Aresty – RA Program

Other contributors: Kevin St. Martin, Kevin Montain

Abstract: Fishing is an integral part of many coastal communities and economies. In order to understand the response of fishing communities to regulation and/or climate change, we examined a database of every commercial fishing trip spanning 1995-2015 to understand the response of different communities. We believe that the fishing communities are adapting to species shifts by changing their location and/or changing species catch. We, also, believe that small boat ground-fishing communities are extremely vulnerable to changes in their environment.
To understand the adaptation strategy of communities, we are using a cluster analysis technique to understand the common traits amongst fishing communities in the northeast United States and to analyze the adaptation strategy of these communities. In order to gain insight into the different adaptive strategies of different community types, we examined the following variables over time for each community type: number of trips, average crew size, average diversity of catch, average distance traveled, and the average total catch per trip. Based on our current analysis, it appears that different types of communities are adapting to climate change in different ways. Our research will provide deeper insight into how these communities are adapting to their changing environment and how these communities are changing at a community level.