Socio-political structure and concerns of offshore charter and party boat operators in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas

Abstract

In the summer of 1998, 117 person to person interviews were conducted from a random sample of charter boats and from an entire population of party boats operating in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Due to the single ownership of multiple boats, these were collapsed into 105 operational cases. Field observation notes and interviews were analyzed according to content analysis techniques. From this, 105 operational profiles emerged. Additional in-depth interviews were conducted and similarly analyzed, with 5 cases distributed regionally. These were selected on the basis of official capacity in representing other charter and party boat operators in fisheries organizations. This research focuses on the identity of this group of "fishermen", their motivations for being charter and party boat operators and their various styles of doing fishing. Four main types of "fishermen"/fishing operations are identified from characteristic trends that emerge out of the data, leading to a separation between types that are dependent on the fisheries for their livelihoods (called Core "fishermen") and types that are not dependent on the fisheries for their livelihoods (called Periphery "fishermen"). Issues of political contention to charter and party boat operators are explored from a structural perspective of existing fisheries management, and management ideology and practice, within the historical context of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Gulf of Mexico Regional Council.