Pollnac Richard

Background

About Pollnac Richard

Dr. Richard Pollnac is Professor Emeritus of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island and Affiliate Professor in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington, Seattle. He obtained his PhD at the University of Missouri, specializing in cognitive and applied anthropology, culminating in a dissertation focusing on intracultural variation in cognition among the Baganda of Uganda, a people living on or close to the shoreline of Lake Victoria, where he developed his interest in coastal adaptations to large bodies of water. At the present time, he specializes in human coastal ecology (human adaptation to the marine environment) as an element in understanding and facilitating development and change among fishing people, while maintaining and/or improving their overall well-being. Professor Pollnac has conducted field research among mostly small-scale fishermen in coastal communities in East and West Africa, South East Asia, Pacific Islands, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East, as well as the USA, including larger scale commercial fishers in the North East Region, Puget Sound and Alaska. He has published over 150 scientific research articles and book chapters over the past several decades focusing on human technological, social, psychological, biological and ideational adaptations to the marine environment. See his abbreviated CV at (https://smea.uw.edu/faculty-and-research/affiliate-faculty/)