Self and Sacrifice: An Investigation of Small Boat Fisher Individualism and Its Implication for Producer Cooperatives

Small boat fishers have often been characterized as uncooperative individualists resistant to forming and sustaining representative organizations. This essay argues that small boat fishers are a heterogeneous group expressive of divergent and often conflicting ideologies and behaviors. We contend that the character and play of these differences impact directly upon the dynamics in and outcomes for representative organizations such as producer cooperatives. As an exploration and demonstration of these factors, the essay examines aspects of small boat captains' engagement with and attitudes towards an eastern Nova Scotia producer cooperative. The notions