Lessons from the Abyss: Reflections on Recent Fisheries Crises in Atlantic Canada and North Norway

This paper examines some of the basic economic, political and scientific assumptions we have utilized to organize fisheries activities in the North Atlantic. In particular, we discuss and criticize our commitments to corporate economic organization, centralized administrative structures, and conventional science. In addition, we raise questions about the obligation of our respective nation-states to the coastal communities which have most directly been affected by the social policies emanating from our institutional commitments.