SoFISHticated policy - social perspectives on the fish conflict in the Northeast Atlantic

Anja Gänsbauer, Harald Wilfing, Ulrike Bechtold

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Ecosystem changes currently question the traditional allocation of fishing rights and quotas in the fishery of Northeast Atlantic mackerel and Norwegian spring-spawning herring in the Northeast Atlantic. Variability in the distribution of these highly migratory species escalated in a political conflict between member states of the European Union, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway, which is a driving force for unsustainable fishery. The aim of this paper is to investigate this conflict by outlining the social understandings of diverse stakeholders by using the Q methodology. The method reduced the complexity of numerous opinions, detected four distinct perspectives and simultaneously categorised the participating stakeholders. Although the perspectives differ in various elements, the protection of economic interests seems to dominate over the quest for sustainability. The call of all stakeholders in this study to clarify the fishing rights in the Northeast Atlantic reveals a clear deficiency of the current international fishery management in handling abrupt ecological changes and the necessity to acknowledge this as a complex adaptive system.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)93-103
Number of pages11
JournalMarine Policy
Volume66
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2016

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 507024 Environmental policy

Keywords

  • Atlanto-Scandian herring and Northeast Atlantic mackerel
  • Complex Adaptive Systems
  • Northeast Atlantic Fish Conflict
  • Q-Method
  • Stakeholder social perspectives analysis
  • Sustainable yield
  • MIGRATION
  • HERRING CLUPEA-HARENGUS
  • NATURAL-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
  • SUSTAINABILITY
  • Atlantic mackerel
  • CLIMATE-CHANGE
  • PELAGIC FISH
  • Q METHODOLOGY
  • Atlanto-Scandian herring and Northeast
  • NORWEGIAN SEA
  • STOCKS
  • ECOSYSTEMS

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