Specialist and Generalist: Roles for Coping with Variability

--Two behavior patterns of fishermen, specialist and generalist, are evaluated as ways of coping with market and natural variability. Changes in these behaviors predicted by an analytical model are evaluated against data from several fisheries. The predictions and the data suggest that a mix of specialist and generalist fishing behavior is a way of coping with unpredictability. Management usually regards fishing behavior as homogeneous; as a result, many management rules discriminate against one type of behavior or the other. Two interrelated issues need elaboration in the evaluation of fishing behavior and management systems. One is conceptualizing fishermen as a homogeneous population. The second is neglecting the stochastic problems resulting from market and natural variability. The homogeneity of fishing populations enters models either as an initial assumption (Gordon 1953, 1954; Crutchfield and Pontecorvo 1969; Clark 1976; Anderson 1977) or when fishery scientists and managers associate the term "fisherman" with certain stereotypes about behavior (Smith 1974, 1981). To the extent that the distribution of fishing behaviors is known and approaches a normal distribution, the homogeneity assumption may be justified. Our observation, however, is that there are two behavioral types-specialist and generalist. The mix of specialists and generalists in a fishery varies with the stochastic variation in revenues due to natural or market factors. We hypothesize that adjustments to the mix of specialists and generalists are part of the process by which society copes with variability. Some attention has been given to natural variability in biological models (Beddington and May 1977; Sissenwine 1977; May et al. 1979; Shepherd and Horwood 1979; McKelvey et al. 1980) and in economic analyses (Huppert 1979; Hanna 1982). Very little attention, however, has been given to the fishing strategies needed to cope with the variability in renewable resource productivity. Concern for variability and uncertainty is common to theories in ecology and economics. In ecology, it is found in optimal foraging theory (Schoener 1971; Krebs 1978; McCleery 1978); in economics, portfolio theory deals with diversiftcation of investments (Markowitz 1952, 1959; Samuelson 1967; Francis and Archer 1971; Elton and Gruber 1981). McCay (1978, 1981) applied optimal foraging theory to the analysis of the behavior of fishermen. In this paper, we try to link the question offishermen's behavior in coping with stochastic variation to the economic model for determining optimal effort in the exploitation of common property resources. Specialists and Generalists Observations of fishermen suggest wo contrasting coping strategies. One is behavior that indicates a specialist who operates in one fishery. This is the fishing pattern used with traditional analytic models. The other is behavior that indicates a generalist who has alternative fishery and nonfishery options. The differences are overstated, as with all dichotomies. In actual practice, the fishery is composed of a gradation of types of participants who are more or less like the idealized specialist or generalist but who still represent two different behavioral distributions. The specialist-generalist modes are distinguished (Table 1) by the number of activities, economic organization, and time perspectives of the fishermen. Specialists typically operate in only one fishery. Because they invest their effort in one fishery, their cost of changing to a new fishery is very high. The specialist looks more to the long term and needs a very high profit potential before switching to another fishery. The generalist mixes a number of activities. His economic decisions focus on keeping total variable costs to a minimum so he can easily enter and leave fisheries. His perspective is short term.