Helliwell, who lives near Eureka and is a former commercial salmon fisherman (hook and line) off the California coast, received the 2009 Charles McCall Award for Best Undergraduate Paper from the CSU’s Social Sciences Research and Instructional Council (SSRIC). It supports students, staff and faculty with a wide range of databases and research and training opportunities.
Titled Fisheries Management for California Dungeness Crab: Adapting to Change, Helliwell’s paper embraces “adaptive resource management.” She recommends that crab fishermen and government agencies collaborate in identifying problems and defining objectives before taking managerial steps, using built-in criteria to make adjustments over time.
More open management approaches are needed to resolve multiple conflicts besetting the crab fishing industry, according to Helliwell’s research. Fisheries managers say the resource is in good condition; the problems center on marketing and allocations. Disputes arise between small and large producers, and between North Coast and Central Coast vessels and those from out of state.
Differences are also at work between fishermen and processors, large and small processors, and between fishermen and management agencies, namely the California Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission.
Trained mediators are needed in decision-making to reconcile the disagreements inherent in altering fisheries management regimes, Helliwell found.
“The ideal goal,” she states in her paper, “is harvesting the socially optimum yield, to maximize community wealth and well-being. Crab fishermen need to decide among themselves what their issues are and the most equitable way to solve them. Fishermen have the most experience and insight into the intricacies of their fishery and the market, plus the desire to maintain them.”
Management alternatives to cope with market glut include spreading out the catch over time or discouraging out-of-area boats.
Born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Helliwell moved to California in 1971 and took up commercial fishing “when salmon were abundant and the breezes refreshing.” She got involved with habitat restoration of salmon streams, and then turned to advocacy in the policy arena. She moved to Humboldt County from the Mendocino County area in 2001.
“Through HSU Extended Education’s Institute for the Study of Alternative Dispute Resolution, I completed mediation training, which I use to participate in various fisheries-related community and government conflicts,” she said.
A junior economics major with an emphasis in environmental and natural resource economics, Helliwell is currently chair of the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead. She works part-time as the Watershed Conservation Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.
As part of her award, Helliwell received $100 and a flash drive.