An Explorative Study of Work Transitions From Fishing to Tourism in Cornwall, UK, 2018-2019

The main aim of this study is to: Explore the ways in which people working in fishing and marine tourism in Cornwall understand, experience, and attach meaning to their work through the theoretical lens of identity and dignity. Using Cornwall/ UK as a case study, the following objectives were specified in order to answer the research question: 1. Explore the ways in which commercial fishermen experience their work. 2. Examine how people transitioning from fisheries to marine tourism work experience such change. 3. Offer an alternative understanding of identity and dignity in marine tourism contexts and highlight the relevance of dignity as a concept for theorising tourism diversification. The data for this PhD thesis explores the ways in which people working in fishing and marine tourism in Cornwall understand, experience, and attach meaning to their work through the theoretical lens of identity and dignity. From a social constructionist perspective and supported by principles of a phenomenological enquiry, empirically, loosely structured interviews with 15 commercial fishermen, 7 fishermen who transitioned into tourism work, as well as 23 informants including descendants and relatives of fishermen and community members, artists and local filmmakers, as well as representatives of fishing and tourism and heritage organisations were conducted.