January 31, 2003

Contact: Adrianne

Tucker

802-443-5629

satucker@middlebury.edu

Posted: January 31, 2003

MIDDLEBURY,

VT - In Jon Isham’s environmental economics class last spring,

senior Rob Chisholm drew on his experiences growing up in a small, lobster-fishing

town in Nova Scotia to write an award-winning paper about the community’s

unique resource management system. With Isham’s support, Chisholm

decided to pursue the topic for his thesis, and to submit the paper, titled

“Drawing the Line: Informal Property Rights in a Nova Scotia Lobster

Fishery,” to the environmental economics category of the 2002 Ohio

State University National Undergraduate Essay Contest. Chisholm’s

paper earned first-prize distinction—shared with a student from

the University of Michigan—amidst other topflight, original essays

entered by students nationwide. Chisholm was notified by a Jan. 21 e-mail

announcing that, in addition to his half of the $1,500 grand prize, he

will receive a $250 “field prize” for the category.

“The management system used in my hometown is a ‘common-pool’

resource system,” said Chisholm, an environmental studies major

with a focus on policy. “It limits access to the resource and assigns

property rights to individual fishermen, informally establishing who fishes

in the area immediately around the local wharf, and allowing some fishermen

exclusive access to large areas on the water. This decreases potential

for over-fishing in those areas.”

Essays were ranked upon such considerations as the importance and clarity

of the economic problem presented, the appropriate use of economic concepts

and theory, strength of conclusions and implications drawn from the analysis,

and evidence of student creativity and originality. The winning papers

will be recognized and published by Ohio State University within the next

six months.

“When Rob turned in his first draft, it was clearly a stellar piece

of research, well-written and creative. I knew right away his paper had

the potential to win this national contest,” said Isham, Chisholm’s

advisor.

Impressed with Middlebury College’s environmental

studies, Chisholm transferred from Princeton to Middlebury to take advantage

of the strength of the College’s program. At Middlebury, he sought

and received a Ronald H. Brown internship that allowed him to pursue his

thesis research with the Gulf Nova Scotia Bonafide Fishermen’s Association

in Antigonish, his hometown in Nova Scotia. Chisholm spent last summer

studying local fishery issues and interviewing fishermen for an independent

project that will become part of his senior thesis.

“Where I’m from, in Nova Scotia, you’re either a lobster

fisherman or a relative of a lobster fisherman,” commented Chisholm.

“This was a great opportunity for me to apply my college education

toward the good of my home community.”

According to Isham, Chisholm’s work clearly illustrated that the

common use of a natural resource does not have to lead to an environmental

tragedy. “Local people, under the right circumstances, can sustainably

manage inshore fisheries,” said Isham. “In Rob’s paper,

he shows what those conditions are,” he said.

Chisholm hopes to continue studying inshore resource management efforts

around the world, traveling to other locales to research problems and

solutions. He hopes, ultimately, to participate in Canadian resource policy-making,

applying his expertise toward bringing into focus the human element in

policy decisions.

“The lobster fishermen back in Nova Scotia work hard and well with

their community toward preserving their resources for its future—and

this, I believe, is indicative of many other lobster-fishing communities

all the way from Maine to Newfoundland,” said Chisholm. “Policy

must recognize that kind of work at the grass roots level,” he added.

While not working on his thesis studies, Chisholm—who started skating

“late” in life when he was six years old—devotes a huge

amount of time and energy serving as this year’s captain of the

men’s hockey team, leading the top-10 Division III team in a winning

season. He and his teammates also volunteer in the local Middlebury community

as mentors and goal-setting program leaders for area schools in conjunction

with the Cornwall, Vt.-based Foundation for Excellent Schools.

During his career as a college student, Chisholm has never taken the typical

spring break vacation. He plans to put his prize money to good use this

year, however, remedying that situation and rounding out his college experience.

In last year’s competition, another Middlebury athlete, Alison Connolly,

class of 2002, won honorable mention for her paper titled “The North

Atlantic Swordfish Industry: Improving Current Policy to Effectively Reduce

Overfishing.”