Settlers in Earthquake Country

This article examines how settlers in New Zealand and California responded to seismic instability throughout the late nineteenth century. By interpreting a series of moments during which the foundations of settlement were shaken by earthquakes I argue that the economic temporality of colonial boom and bust inflected contemporary understandings of natural disaster. In earthquake country, the relationships between scientists and settlers, their environmental knowledge, and the physical world existed in a dynamic equilibrium. When earthquakes struck in opportune conditions settlers were quick to resume their speculation on land, scientists were inspired by upheaval, and artists found sublimity in instability. In times of doubt earthquakes induced a latent anxiety among settlers about the prospects of the colonial project. In this context natural disasters were framed as threats to growth or harbingers of decline. Read together, responses to earthquakes offer a new way into the environmental history of settler colonialism that places a form of creative destruction at the center of the colonial project on both sides of the Pacific Rim.

Boom and Bust Archaeology

As a discourse analysis of historical resource assessment documents and interviews with professional archaeologists, this study aims to inspect and critique the production of value in the Alberta historical resource value (HRV) system. The system of evaluation for historical value creates what can be described as a presence-absence model of archaeological significance that limits the ability for archaeologists to interpret and subjectively determine the historical value of materials. In addition, current systems often rely on a contractual relationship between archaeologists and industry to produce these reports, and rarely incorporate indigenous perspectives of significance. With a focus on the assumptions and functional result of HRIA assessments, we can examine the repercussions of the contemporary archaeological evaluative model within Alberta. A goal of this nascent assessment is to provide the opportunity for evaluation of a system that largely exists below the surface of public interest but has vast implications for future access to shared historical resources.

A Comparison of Three Data-Poor Stock Assessment Methods for the Pink Spiny Lobster Fishery in Mauritania

Several data-poor stock assessment methods have recently been proposed and applied to data-poor fisheries around the world. The Mauritanian pink spiny lobster fishery has a long history of boom and bust dynamics, with large landings, stock collapse, and years-long fishery closures, all happening several times. In this study, we have used catch, fishing efforts, and length-frequency data (LFD) obtained from the fishery in its most recent period of activity, 2015–2019, and historical annual catch records starting in 2006 to fit three data-poor stock assessment methods. These were the length-based Bayesian (LBB) method, which uses LFD exclusively, the Catch-only MSY (CMSY) method, using annual catch data and assumptions about stock resilience, and generalised depletion models in the R package CatDyn combined with Pella-Tomlinson biomass dynamics in a hierarchical inference framework. All three methods presented the stock as overfished. The LBB method produced results that were very pessimistic about stock status but whose reliability was affected by non-constant recruitment. The CMSY method and the hierarchical combination of depletion and Pella-Tomlinson biomass dynamics produced more comparable results, such as similar sustainable harvest rates, but both were affected by large statistical uncertainty. Pella-Tomlinson dynamics in particular demonstrated stock experiencing wide fluctuations in abundance. In spite of uncertain estimates, a clear understanding of the status of the stock as overfished and in need of a biomass rebuilding program emerged as management-useful guidance to steer exploitation of this economically significant resource into sustainability.

Dangerous demographics in post-bleach corals reveal boom-bust versus protracted declines

Thermal-stress events have changed the structure, biodiversity, and functioning of coral reefs. But how these disturbances affect the dynamics of individual coral colonies remains unclear. By tracking the fate of 1069 individual Acropora and massive Porites coral colonies for up to 5 years, spanning three bleaching events, we reveal striking genus-level differences in their demographic response to bleaching (mortality, growth, and recruitment). Although Acropora colonies were locally extirpated, substantial local recruitment and fast growth revealed a marked capacity for apparent recovery. By contrast, almost all massive Porites colonies survived and the majority grew in area; yet no new colonies were detected over the 5 years. Our results highlight contrasting dynamics of boom-and-bust vs. protracted declines in two major coral groups. These dangerous demographics emphasise the need for caution when documenting the susceptibility and perceived resistance or recovery of corals to disturbances.

Book Reviews

Maria Stella Chiaruttini of Department of Economic and Social History University of Vienna of reviews “Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles” by William Branch and John D. Turner. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores the history of financial bubbles, proposing a new metaphor and analytical framework that describes their causes, explains what determines their consequences, and may help predict them in the future.”

Demographic Instability as a Barrier to Remote Economic Development in the North: Are Cities the Answer?

Remote and sparsely populated northern peripheries in Australia, Europe and North America experience high rates of population turnover and struggle to recruit and retain populations. There has been discussion about the extent to which their larger urban centres may be key to navigating common ‘boom and bust’ cycles, thus contributing to more stable and resilient demographic and economic development in their jurisdictions. This paper examines the population development in twelve remote northern jurisdictions dominated by a large city, comparing urban and regional growth patterns around periods of economic boom and bust since 1990. It was expected that periods of high population growth would be initially led by regional areas where resource projects are commonly located, but that the cities would ultimately benefit more from high growth periods and suffer less from periods of low population growth. It was also expected that cities would retain key populations better than regions because of a growing global urban preference. Results suggest that regional areas did grow more at the start of high growth periods, but there was no universal experience of higher city growth throughout the two boom and bust cycles. Rather, each city and region had unique growth pattern properties. Cities must not be assumed a priori to be the drivers of demographic development, but attention needs to be paid to what types of cities promote less volatile growth and development potential in the regions.