abstract
The science and management of marine resources is increasingly grappling with the use of ecosystembased
fisheries management. Though ecosystem-based fisheries management seeks to unite biological
and sociocultural concerns into a holistic framework, people are often seen simply as external drivers of
change. The technical questions that are often posed, such as the delineation of boundaries or the
strategies of governance, are however more broadly questions concerning the social production of
nature. This paper explores these issues by analyzing both the spatial fishing practices of different
fishermen and the results of a series of workshops held in New England to solicit opinions about
ecosystem-based fisheries management. The paper emphasizes teasing apart the human dimensions of
fishing embedded in predominant notions such as fishing effort through more explicit consideration of
spatially based resource dependencies and mutual constitution of society-nature.