Working Group 5.7

Sustainable Fishing Communities: Transformations, Contradictions and the Challenges for Governance

Convenors:
Jeremy Phillipson, Newcastle University jeremy.phillipson@ncl.ac.uk  (contact person)
David Symes, University of Hull
Trude Borch, Norut Northern Research Institute, Tromsø
Svein Jentoft, Norwegian College of Fisheries Science, Tromsø
Pekka Salmi, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Enonkoski

The past 25 years have witnessed unprecedented turbulence for Europe's fisheries. Depletion of resources; globalisation of markets; fleet modernisation; increasing but largely ineffective regulation; and growing pressure from environmentalists have all contributed to a period of continuous restructuring of the industry and hardship and uncertainty for many of Europe's fishing communities. As a consequence, the roles, interests and values of capture fisheries are in turmoil.

Not all regions and sectors have been equally affected and the picture is not one of unremitting gloom. There are signs of restabilisation of the industry based on the gradual recovery of some major stocks and a return of cautious optimism in parts of the industry. Furthermore, while globalisation may have heightened competition and made life more difficult for small scale producers in the commodity markets, some family based operators are able to exploit niche markets for ecologically sustainable production, marketing and direct selling, built on local cultural tradition. Opportunities are being created through fishing tourism, through the commercialisation of traditional fishing culture and the growth of recreational fishing. Different values, expressed by new stakeholder interests, are therefore being brought to bear on fisheries management.

The nature of these developments as well as the social impacts of the ongoing restructuring of commercial fishing are however poorly understood. We have at best only a fragmentary view of how social structures and relationships within fishing communities across Europe have altered, how communities and households have responded to the challenge and how well placed the industry is to ensure its social renewal in the face of wider social, economic and environmental change. We also urgently need to better understand the contrasting values of commercial and recreational fisheries, the economic and ecological impacts of fishing tourism and how far leisure fisheries can contribute to sustainable fishing communities. Here 'fishing communities' cover the wide range of contexts where fishing contributes, culturally or economically, to local well being.

These are important issues for fisheries governance. Failure to understand and incorporate different stakeholder interests puts the legitimacy of the decision making institutions at risk. The problem is magnified where decision making power resides in remote centralised bureaucracies. Recent research has emphasised the need not only for a rebalancing of responsibilities between central and local authorities but also a strengthening of the linkages between state, market and civil society and closer integration between different users of marine space. Sector specific approaches to management are no longer appropriate.

Accordingly, the convenors invite papers on a range of themes that will help to illuminate social aspects of continuity and change in Europe's fishing communities and the need for appropriate governance response, including: the social impacts of public policy on fishing communities; social renewal and adaptation strategies at community/household level; sectoral or territorial approaches to development in fishing dependent areas; and transformations and contradictions in fisheries livelihoods, leisure use and governance.