SELF AND SACRIFICE - AN INVESTIGATION OF SMALL BOAT FISHER INDIVIDUALISM AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR PRODUCER COOPERATIVES

Small boat fishers have often been characterized as uncooperative indi vidualists resistant to forming and sustaining representative organiza tions. This essay argues that small boat fishers are a heterogeneous g roup expressive of divergent and often conflicting ideologies and beha viors. We contend that the character and play of these differences imp act directly upon the dynamics in and outcomes for representative orga nizations such as producer cooperatives. As an exploration and demonst ration of these factors, the essay examines aspects of small boat capt ains' engagement with and attitudes towards an eastern Nova Scotia pro ducer cooperative. The notions 'rugged individualism'' and ''utilitari an individualism'' are employed in an effort to conceptualize and anal yze small boat fisher ideological and behavioral heterogeneity and its potential meanings for the success or failure of representative forms of organization.