Ana Pitchon: Anthropologist to Participate in Study of Coastal Resources in Puerto Rico

Ana Pitchon, assistant professor of anthropology, has received a SEA Grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), along with colleagues Carlos G. García-Quijano and John J. Poggie from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Rhode Island. Their project, “The Coast's Bailout: Coastal Resource Use, Quality of Life and Resilience in Puerto Rico” will focus on small-scale fishing industries on the island and their potential to fare better in difficult economic times.

Pitchon, whose research has focused on community use of fishing resources in different settings says that the project’s title evolved from the idea that the natural environment can be a community’s “bailout” in terms of socioeconomic resilience.

“We’re looking at to what extent small-scale coastal resource use can bail coastal communities out of feeling the brunt of the economic, environmental and well-being or quality of life uncertainty,” says Pitchon. “We’re measuring economic dependency, environmental dependency, and the more complex [component] of quality of life or well-being. That is the foundation of social resilience.”

The team will assess coastal resource use in the municipalities of Salinas, Guayama, Arroyo, and Patillas, studying factors such as the harvest-to-consumer movement of local coastal resources and derivate products, the role of coastal resources in household economic histories, and the extent to which coastal Puerto Ricans use and benefit from local small-scale coastal resource harvesting and production. Pitchon says that the ultimate goal is to develop a model to help anthropologists conduct studies in similar communities throughout the United States.

“This particular project is pretty exciting because what we’re trying to come up with are some empirical methodological tools that could be used to replicate this project elsewhere,” she says. “We want to come up with a standard for measuring social resilience, the ability for a system to maintain its basic foundation despite having external [disturbances]. In the southern United States, you have fishing communities that have existed for multiple generations. They’re definitely seeing the same effects as these communities in Puerto Rico. There are fishing communities in northern California and Washington and Oregon that are experiencing the same conditions.”

Pitchon and her fellow anthropologists hope to provide evidence that will guide policymakers in finding the best uses for coastal areas that will not only bolster the economy but enhance and maintain the societal well-being and quality of life for coastal communities.

“For example, the Port of Los Angeles would rather use their commercial fishing areas as more container areas and support sites,” says Pitchon. “The economics say that a container storage area would bring in more money than commercial fisheries do. By law, they have to allow commercial fisheries to have that space. There are so many other factors to consider. The larger picture would be how to find [ways] to best use these coastal areas and to what degree is it necessary to allow for coastal resource dependency among these communities.”

Pitchon says that anthropology, traditionally viewed as an academic field, has evolved within the discipline in order to help other scientists, policymakers and the general public tackle social and environmental issues.

“We’re realizing the relevance and importance of our skill set in their application to solving contemporary problems,” she notes. “Our discipline stresses holism. We don’t just look at the economics, how goods and services are exchanged and allocated. We don’t just look at psychology, the social patterns and construction of a group or the political orientation. We look at everything to form basically the system of humanity.”

- Joanie Harmon