Oral Histories, Environmental Knowledge, and the Folk Sequence of Commercial Crab Fishers in Coastal Georgia

D. Robert Cooley and Benjamin G. Blount
Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA30602-1619, 706-542-1483, FAX: 706,542-3998, rcooley@arches.uga.edu

The blue crab fishery in Georgia has experienced a decline in catch per unit effort. Fishery scientists and managers across the nation would all agree that there is not enough data to definitively explain the cause of this decline. Some scientists and managers in Georgia have indicated that they believe that the crabbers have a rich understanding of the fishery and the coastal ecosystem and could really contribute to the study of this decline. What is needed, they believe, is someone to elicit this knowledge from the fishermen and present it in a cohesive, organized, accessible format, to help bring new perspectives to the study of the trends in the crab fishery. This project will document the environmental knowledge of "old timer" blue crabbers and their opinions on "the way things were" (ecologically and otherwise) and the way they "should be" through oral histories. Second, it will clarify how Georgia crabbers believe humans have affected the integrity, diversity, resilience, and resource productivity of the coastal ecosystem. Finally, it will describe the cultural and economic significance of crabbing, enhancing resource managers' ability to create policies satisfactory to all stakeholders.