Fisheries: A Case Study of Baltic Sea Environmental Governance

Abstract

This chapter analyses environmental governance through a case study of fi sheries management in the Baltic Sea and investigates the problems, challenges and opportunities for improving sustainability in this sector. Fisheries management in the Baltic Sea is politically and culturally complex, institutionally fragmented and confronted with serious environmental problems, such as recent shifts in cod stocks. The central challenge is therefore to establish a regionally based, ecologically sustainable and socio-economically viable fi sheries governance system for the Baltic Sea. Our analysis is focused on how past and current reform processes of fi sheries management in the Baltic Sea have been able to move away from the pathdependent and highly ineffective management system linked to EU's Common Fisheries Policy towards new regional arrangements and procedures that address environmental problems in the Baltic on par with the social and economic challenges. We fi rst describe existing governance structures for fi sheries management in the Baltic Sea and their role in procedures of knowledge production, policy advice and decision-making. We then examine how the different governance actors (i.e. scientists, stakeholders, policymakers) address key issues such as the framing of the 'overfi shing problem', the handling of uncertainty in the interactions of risk assessment and risk management and the role of stakeholder participation and communication. The chapter concludes by emphasising the need for an improved understanding of how scientifi c developments and connected uncertainty problems, policy constraints and stakeholder perspectives can be brought together for improving the biological, ecological and socio-economic sustainability of Baltic Sea fi sheries governance.

Knowledge for environmental governance: probing science–policy theory in the cases of eutrophication and fisheries in the Baltic Sea

“…Fisheries in the Baltic Sea is primarily managed through the CFP with associated institutionalised processes for science-based advice and decision-making on total allowable catches (TACs) (Sellke, Dreyer, & Linke, 2016). Decisions on TACs for commercial fish stocks are taken by the EU Council of Ministers with input from scientific advice developed by ICES, as well as stakeholder input from so-called Advisory Councils (ACs).…”

Risk Communication and the Role of the Public: Towards Inclusive Environmental Governance of the Baltic Sea?

“…The empirical data used for analysis in this chapter is drawn from fi ve case studies, which were conducted in the RISKGOV project. The case studies analyse the governance of the marine environmental risks of eutrophication (Haahti et al 2010 ), invasive alien species (IAS) (Lemke et al 2010 ), overfi shing (Sellke et al 2010 ), oil discharges (Hassler et al 2010 ) and chemical pollution (Udovyk et al 2010 ) with respect to three governance dimensions, one of which is 'processes of stakeholder communication'. A common analytical framework guided all fi ve case studies ensuring the comparability of the cases, which were performed using similar research designs (cf.…”

“…Linke et al 2011 ). RACs are advisory institutions set up by the EU Commission with representatives from the fi shing industry and different environmental groups (NGOs) and are often put forward as an innovative example of regional stakeholder participation (Linke and Jentoft 2013 ;Sellke et al 2010 ). If broad inclusion is the ideal for risk governance, it is necessary to not have a static idea of who stakeholders are.…”

“…In the area of fi sheries, industry representatives have designed a website ( www.portal-fi scherei-portal.de ) that aims to deliver information to the public. This is, according to the interviewees, mainly a response to the media framing of overfi shing (Sellke et al 2010 ). A wealth of informationfrom general to highly detailed, much of this related to risk assessment matters -is made available on the website of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) .…”

Regional Environmental Governance and Avenues for the Ecosystem Approach to management in the Baltic Sea Area

“…There is a need for cross-sectoral solutions not only within but also between problem areas. The differentiation in terms of competences affect these arrangements, where fisheries, for example, are an exclusive EU competence (interview no 29; Sellke, Dreyer, & Linke, 2016), whereas eutrophication is managed by individual states through action plans derived from the MSFD and the BSAP . Oil spills, in contrast, are mainly governed through global regulations (Hassler, 2016a;Söderström, submitted).…”