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will spend several months in the Bahamas this fall, supported by a as she studies how human practices surrounding the , a critically endangered reef fish, create conflicts over culture, economy and governmental regulation in that region.

The assistant professor of anthropology in the will pursue a project titled “Poaching in Bahamian Waters: Conservation and National Security in Caribbean Seascapes.”

The project extends Mallon Andrews’ earlier research among spearfishermen along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, where declining fish stocks forced divers to go deeper into the water and farther out to sea, risking their physical safety and potentially crossing national borders to earn a living. Some eventually crossed into Bahamian waters and  were arrested and jailed as poachers.

For this project, the anthropologist will examine the issue from the perspective of Bahamian regulators. She will embed with personnel charged with poaching enforcement, including members of the , the ,  the and .

During peak poaching season, Mallon Andrews will participate in training programs for law enforcement officers and lawyers. She will accompany fishing patrols and speak with public officials who process illegal catches. She will follow Bahamian government agencies as poaching arrests play out in the country’s courts.

National Security Stakes

The proper regulation of marine resources is central to , according to the .  sustains roughly 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), although  threatens the economy’s long-term sustainability.

Tourism activity based on the country’s marine ecology—coral reefs, mangroves and pristine beaches—attracts millions of visitors yearly and generates about 50% of the country’s GDP. Although the country controls 250,000 square miles of maritime territory, about 35% of lobsters harvested from Bahamian waters are taken illegally. Between 2013 and 2019, 24 fishing vessels were apprehended, and the boats of 375 Dominican nationals were confiscated. Collectively, those poachers were sentenced to 239 years in prison, Mallon Andrews says.

Several conditions affect how the countries deal with those issues, Mallon Andrews says. Both Dominican fishers and Bahamian environmental agents are reacting to the increasing scarcity of Caribbean fisheries, a reality she says makes it easy for Bahamian institutions to blur the lines between environmental protection and national security. Global climate change is exacerbating the conditions that lead to poaching. And the Bahamas struggles with poaching on two fronts: Dominican fishers from the south and American poachers from the north.

Alternative Perspective

In the next phase of research, Mallon Andrews will focus on how poachers are perceived by Bahamian institutions, how conservation and security measures overlap in practice and what becomes of confiscated ships, gear and fish. She’ll view those issues from the perspective of those she describes as “being charged with navigating an uneven and difficult-to-control tapestry of conservation enforcement.”

“I’m hoping people will take seriously not only the regional and international implications of environmental crime but the upending of the narrative of criminals and enforcers,” Mallon Andrews says. “It is much more difficult to think about what that means for people whose lives are impacted by seafood industries, and for the people who are asked to enforce those regulations.”

Research With Real Stakes

Mallon Andrews’ previous research resulted in the forthcoming book “.” During that project and as an avid freediver and underwater photographer, she built a rapport with those she interviewed by diving alongside them and learning to spearfish as she heard their stories.

“A gesture like that really makes a big impact because its unique in the researcher-to-researched relationship. You really attempt to ask someone to integrate you into their daily life,” she says.

Mallon Andrews expects to find the same willingness to share perspectives among the regulatory enforcers she encounters this time. “I feel lucky to have Fulbright support on this project because it’s a different relationship,” she says. “[These] enforcers are very concerned about the issue of poaching and what they want people to know about the practical conundrums they encounter on a daily basis.”

She also plans to organize a photo exhibition and produce a short documentary film and will present workshops and talks at the University of the Bahamas as the community engagement aspect of her work.

What makes this new project particularly interesting to her as an anthropologist, she says, is that the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic differ in their histories, cultures and governmental structures. Those differences shape the values and politics each nation brings to the poaching problem.

She is excited to spend time “with people who have life stories entirely different from my own. I’m an ethnographer through and through, and I’m excited to learn things by walking in someone else’s shoes in the Bahamas—[things] that I couldn’t imagine from sitting here in an office in Syracuse.”