THE CRISIS

							       Key challenges facing fisheries
         management at EU level!
          What role for local approaches and FLAGs?
How can they relate to broader regional and sea basin strategies?


          The role of local partnerships in developing innovative
               and sustainable strategies in fisheries areas

                    European Maritime Day Workshop
                          Friday 21 May 2010
                              Gijon, Spain



                             Jesper Raakjær
                      Professor and Head of Centre
                                  IFM
                      Department of Development
                              and Planning
THE PRESENT SITUATION
• Overfishing has been evident for many years,
  resulting in a critical resource situation.
• Massive overcapacity created by excessive
  (subsidised) investments.
• Poor profitability of the industry.
• Fishing communities are struggling for their
  livelihoods, and the smallest fisheries
  communities are under severe threat.
• Fisheries are loosing their economic importance
  even in traditional fishing areas.
THE FISHERIES SYSTEM
                     Governance system

                            Policy-making



                     Management decision-making



       Information       Intervention                     Information
                                          Axis 4



   The natural system     Activities in the        The socio-economic system
                          fisheries sector




                                                                               Hirtshals
                                                                               Hirtshals
       Present and future approaches
• Strong tendency to apply off-the-peg approaches (one-
  size-fits-all)
   – It is particularly problematic that differences between fisheries and
     fishing communities are not acknowledged; the dynamics in a specific
     fishery or fishing community need to be captured in order to improve
     management performance.
• Need to differentiate
   – Fishing communities part of the broader economy – diversification –
     need for Axis 4
   – Small scale fisheries (coastal or inland)
   – Preparing for integration
       • Maritime Policy
       • MPA
       • Natura 2000
          CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
           ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF
             THE FISHING SECTOR
•       The EU fishing industry is fragmented in almost all
        respects, which implies a fragmented interest
        structure of the fishing sector

    –     All types of conflicts of interest across member states can be
          found in relation to the CFP.
    –     It is largely a delusion that there are common interests and
          objectives among member states within the fisheries domain.
    –     Thus, the CFP has to cope with fragmentation rather than
          commonalities.




                                                     Lild strand
                                                                     Skagen
              MANAGEMENT REGIME
                CHARACTERISTICS
• Problems of implementation drift and lack of
  enforcement in the member states
   – National implementation has undermined the performance of the CFP
     by-passing the intentions of the CFP for political reasons.
     Management regulations have been subverted due to a lack of
     enforcement or lack of knowledge of the conditions and factors that
     influence rule compliance among fishermen.
• A clash between the ways administrators and fishermen
  view the goals and means of the management regime
   – Often regulations are being endorsed that do not reflect the dynamics
     in fishing and the fishing communities. What are considered to be
     good solutions at the administrative level rarely reflect the practical
     reality at sea or in fishing communities.




                                                                    Hirtshals
                                                                     Skagen
   PROMISSING SOLUTIONS FOR
INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE OF THE CFP
• Removal of structural aid
  Even though removal of structural aid would be the most effective way to
  restore stocks and to strengthen the economic viability of the European fishing
  sector in the longer term. It has almost no chance of being accepted.
  Nevertheless, structural aid should be redirected to “fishing” communities to
  both support innovative development with in the fishing sector, but also create
  alternative employment and income outside fishing. Here FLAGs have an
  important role to play!
• Regionalisation of the CFP
  An institutional framework with the CFP as a suite of de facto eco-region
  fisheries policies would accommodate many of the present political challenges.
  This is further in line with the move towards eco-system based management.
• Devolution of management responsibilities
  It is important that user and stakeholder participation is moved beyond the
  consultative type of co-management and towards an incentive structure that
  fosters responsible behaviour among participants. The large demands on DG
  MARE are likely to require some form of devolution. This obvious calls for local
  approaches to fisheries management and development.




                                                                         Hirtshals
THANK YOU FOR THE
   ATTENTION!