Agar, J. J., Stoffle, B. (eds.)

Community Profiles and Socioeconomic Evaluations of Marine Conservation Districts: St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. NOAA Series on U.S. Caribbean Fishing Communities.

2007

Miami, Florida

NMFS Social Science Research Group, Southeast Fisheries Science Center

140

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-557

This report describes research conducted for the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under contract WC133F-03-RQ-0159. The contract specified description of prospective fishing communities on St. Thomas and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), and assessment of the effects of establishing a Marine Conservation District (MCD) in the region. The resulting report is titled "Community Profiles and Socioeconomic Evaluation of Marine Conservation Districts: St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands." The goals of the project involved identification and description fishing communities on St. Thomas and St. John and evaluation of the economic and social effects of the Hind Bank MCD, established in 1999. The first goal was accomplished by identifying and spatially depicting fishery participants residing in and around estates and districts on St. Thomas and St. John, and by developing summary profiles of those communities by characterizing social, demographic, and other relevant dimensions of each. The second goal was achieved by characterizing fishing operations at Hind Bank and other MCDs around St. Thomas and St. John, and by assessing relationships between the user groups, communities, resources, and area closures. Fieldwork for the project was undertaken in phases during 2004 and 2006.

FY2007 CRCP Project ID 1668; Project Title: Socio-Economic Profiles of Fishing Communities in Culebra and Vieques and US Caribbean Fishermen Workshops; Principal Investigator: Juan Agar