Tony Sutton – Diana Davis Spencer Scholar
In January 2017, the Mitchell Center听launched the听Strengthening Coastal Economies听project as part of the Diana Davis Spencer Partnership for a Sustainable 海角社区.听The ultimate goal of this partnership is to inspire and equip a new generation of engaged, entrepreneurial leaders by providing students with transformative, hands-on experiences in the power of innovative partnerships to create a brighter future.
The team is led by assistant professor听Bridie McGreavy听of the Department of Communication and Journalism with help from assistant professor Damian Brady of the School of Marine Sciences, and assistant professor Keith Evans of the School of Economics.
Six students were recruited for the project鈥擳yler Quiring, Carter Hathaway, Gabby Hillyer, Shuling Chen, Cassie Page, and Tony Sutton.
Sutton鈥檚 Passamaquoddy Sustenance Project is 鈥渁bout shaping research that aligns with the values and perspectives of a 肠辞尘尘耻苍颈迟测.鈥 The particular community Sutton is working with is Passamaquoddy at Sipayik, on the shores of Passamaquoddy Bay between the town of Perry and the city of Eastport. The project the community developed involves alewife conservation.听
Healthy alewife populations support a number of groundfish species like pollock, haddock, and cod, which are important species for sustenance, as food and for supporting cultural practices鈥攖he Passamaquoddy are known as 鈥淧eople who spear pollock.鈥
鈥淏ut today,鈥 Sutton says, 鈥渨e can鈥檛 do that because there are听no pollock, and the impetus for the work is to increase the alewife numbers in the hopes that they will help replenish other species like pollock.鈥
For his project, Sutton has conducted a series of interviews with Passamaquoddy members that were, he notes, 鈥渃o-developed.鈥
鈥淭he objectives of the interviews were defined by the stakeholder in an effort to gain better understanding of tribal fisheries knowledge and what people did in the past. They also wanted to characterize when they first saw the fisheries starting to decline and what it鈥檚 like now,鈥 Sutton says.
He adds, 鈥淲e think through issues and questions together. At the university, we are in the position of, 鈥榙iscovering, creating, or validating knowledge鈥 but I see First Nations communities as having great capacity to teach researchers about issues in the state, which only broadens our understanding of 海角社区.鈥
Through his involvement in the project, Sutton has been trying to approach data in a way where it is analyzed together and shared back to communities. Through consultation with Passamaquoddy research partners, one theme from the interviews related to fisheries conservation is centered on a value of connectivity.
鈥淐onnectivity is sort of like the term food web, referring to everything being connected,鈥 notes Sutton. 鈥淏ut in this project, connectivity also includes the health of people, communities, and culture. The interviews with Passamaquoddy fishers describe many species absent from the Passamaquoddy Bay, such as pollock, cod, haddock, and salmon. Many have also observed the recent return of alewives, a keystone species historically supporting species like pollock. Connectivity drives this project by focusing on alewives to support groundfish populations and the native and non-native cultures around fishing in this area.鈥
Sutton is currently working to integrate stories into coauthored writing, such as for potential publication in the 海角社区 Policy Review. 鈥淢y ultimate goal is to work together to shape data in ways that can support their听current and future fisheries related projects,鈥 he says.
Sutton adds, 鈥淢y time with the Diana Davis Spencer Partnership has allowed me to contribute to this much-needed area of research by articulating key strategies for doing research that can be shaped from within听肠辞尘尘耻苍颈迟测.鈥
鈥擠avid Sims