Building Resilient Coastal Communities through Social and Community Enterprise

Dr. Natalie Slawinski

FOCI’s Work Package on ‘Building Resilient Coastal Communities through Social and Community Enterprise’ examines challenges and opportunities of regenerating and enhancing the resilience of remote and rural coastal communities in the face of economic and social-ecological change through social enterprises. Social enterprises are organizational infrastructures that draw on commercial activities to address social and environmental goals.

This Work Package draws on a new heuristic model, called the PLACE Framework, for designing organizational infrastructures of resilience and renewal through social enterprise. Building on a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant that examined the Shorefast Foundation, a charitable organization that operates and supports social businesses on Fogo Island, the PLACE Framework emphasizes the power of place-based social enterprises for contributing to more inclusive, economically diverse and culturally resilient coastal communities and infrastructures.

2021 PLACE Check-In

The role of social enterprise for strengthening communities in a post-pandemic world

by Bruna Brito

On November 19, 2021, Work Package 7, 'building resilient coastal communities through social and community enterprise,' held the 2021 Virtual PLACE Check-In. The online event, led by Dr. Natalie Slawinski and co-organized by Bruna Brito, Jennifer Buxton, Joan Cranston, Mallary McGrath, Gillian Morrissey, Kimberly Orren, Ario Seto, and Ivan White, brought together 56 social entrepreneurs, community leaders, government representatives and academics to engage in a solution-oriented discussion focused on community resilience strategies and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the event, participants reflected that although the pandemic amplified pre-existing challenges experienced by rural and coastal communities across the province, community leaders found ways to pivot and embrace new possibilities. In a demonstration of resilience, many community leaders have pooled resources to work regionally and across sectors to enhance their effectiveness. Finding innovative ways and quickly adapting to COVID restrictions, they leveraged technology to achieve greater reach and impacts, reorganized their programs and explored new partnerships.

Lobster Node Inc.

Canada’s Multi-Stakeholder Lobster Research Platform

The Lobster Node Inc. was first established in 2011 by the principal lobster fishing associations in Canada to coordinate lobster research initiatives under the Canadian Fisheries Research Network (CFRN). The Lobster Node Inc.’s goal is to create a permanent research platform to support sustainable and profitable lobster harvesting in the face of rapid climate and ecosystem changes. This organization aims to address knowledge gaps in lobster productivity, stock structure, and connectivity through collaborative research under the CFRN and funded by NSERC. This is accomplished through co-constructed research with academia, government, and industry including lobster fishers and fishing associations in Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI, regions of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as the southern Gaspé peninsula.

In support of its organizational goals, Lobster Node Inc. is pleased to collaborate with FOCI on Work Package 5: “Building collaborative interdisciplinary research infrastructure in Atlantic Canada’s lobster fisheries”. In consultation with lobster fishing associations and license holders, Lobster Node’s Board of Directors provides expertise to FOCI in co-designing key informant interviews, facilitating access to interview and survey participants, providing feedback on data analyses, and identifying strategies for knowledge mobilization of research findings with lobster harvester associations and policy makers. This project will support the long-term development of an industry-led collaborative research platform to gather and integrate new biological data on lobster with new social and economic data on the lobster fishery into a sustainability framework. This framework will be used to inform adaptive decision-making by managers and stakeholders in support of harvester, coastal community, and regional well-being and resilience.

Bright Future: Researcher Spotlight

Meet Bruna Brito

Bruna is in the final stages of finishing her Master's degree in Sociology at Memorial University. Originally from Brazil, she lived in St. John's and is currently based in Toronto. Her research examines the role of tourism development in advancing local communities' sustainability goals. Specifically, she has explored the role of tourism in retaining and attracting youth and young families to rural and coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Bruna works with Work Package 7, 'building resilient coastal communities through social and community enterprise,' under the supervision of Dr. Natalie Slawinski. This WP explores the role of social enterprises in strengthening communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and is applying and extending an emergent model called the 'PLACE framework of community resilience.' In addition, Bruna has been involved in organizing two knowledge dissemination events, the 2020 and 2021 virtual PLACE Check-In, which brought together social entrepreneurs, community leaders, government representatives and researchers from across Newfoundland and Labrador to share strategies and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Creating Openings for Community and Commons in the Digital Ocean

People and The Ocean Speaker Series

March 23, 2022 - 1pm NST

How do communities and commons become a meaningful part of how oceans and fisheries are thought about, researched and managed? OFI's Social Sciences and Humanities Working Group presents this webinar by Kevin St. Martin exploring this question.

The Speaker Series as a whole seeks to inform governance and provide an introduction to SSH-led — but increasingly inter- and trans-disciplinary — efforts to understand complex interactions between society, economy, culture, and marine and coastal environments.

Ocean Wise: Youth Programs

Apply by March 11, 2022

Ocean Wise is recruiting youth (18 – 30) for its life-changing Ocean Bridge Classic and Direct Action programs. This year’s Ocean Bridge programs include:

Ocean Bridge Classic – a six-month, part-time project-based personal development program that includes two immersive learning journeys in awe-inspiring regions of Canada: Pacific Coast, Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and Atlantic Coast.

Ocean Bridge Direct Action – a three-month, full-time, and funded immersive placement program. Youth and young professionals are connected with experts in the field, to learn new skills, conduct adventurous fieldwork opportunities and outreach projects.