Fishery

According to the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries “to date no public right has been turned into private property and no one has gained rights in perpetuity to even one kilo of fish” (Ludvigsen 2005). Still rights and accompanying quotas are being bought and sold at increasing prices, without much political attention. Closing the Commons traces the development of limited access back to the 1930s, when a licencing system was established for trawlers operating in Norwegian waters. The process is followed through the closing of the offshore fleets in the 1970s, and the coastal fleet in the 1990s. As per 2005 more than 90% of all Norwegian fisheries are closed through various licence systems and rights of participation.

Fisheries development: the institutional challenge is the result of a long-term research programme on fisheries in developing countries. The book explains how fisheries development strategies changed over the years, from simple ideas of modernising the production equipment (boats and gear) to complex programmes involving management and institution building. It highlights the role of the state and the community in resource management and the challenges offered by new concepts such as ecosystem management in a Third World setting.

With the first democratic elections of 1994 the Apartheid State of South Africa came to an end. Political and economic reforms were badly needed, also in the fishing sector, as ownership to vessels, quotas and processing plants was highly skewed in favor of the white minority. Starting with a broad-based Fisheries Policy Development Committee in 1994, South Africa finally got its new Marine Living Resources Act in 1998. Based on this Act redistribution could start, aiming at creating more equal access. However, results soon turned out to be different from anticipated.

Ce guide présente une nouvelle approche à la gouvernance des pêches et de l'aquaculture dans le monde: la gouvernance interactive.

This book provides a discussion of natural resource users' self governance in the context of a modern market-based society. It challenges current explanations of self-governance and suggests alternative perspectives to mobilise the capacity of natural resource users to co-govern their use of a common resource base.

This guide presents a new and creative approach to the governance of fisheries and aquaculture in the world. Called interactive governance, this approach addresses the diversity, complexity and dynamics of fisheries and aquaculture systems through an inclusive, holistic and adaptive framework that is principle-based, with an emphasis on partnership and learning. The guide suggests that all governance systems stand to benefit from the change in perspective that is proposed in this volume.

Maritime Studies (MAST) is an international journal devoted to maritime issues, produced by the Centre for Maritime Research (MARE) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is a sequel to Maritime Anthropological Studies, which appeared between 1988 and 1993. MAST is a social science journal intended for scholars who are engaged in research on marine and coastal matters, from an academic or applied point of view.

Off the coast of Namibia lies the so-called Benguela upwelling system, a very rich source of marine life supporting traditional and modern forms of fishery. This book describes and analyses the Namibian experience with the optimal management of fishery resources, which will be a valuable reference book for fisheries managers from around the world in a time of controversy over destructive modern fishery methods and the global search of a sustainable management of the earth’s natural resources.

Fisheries management has been characterised by failure rather than by success. Weak or dysfunctional governance systems have resulted in fishers operating under perverse incentive structures, leading to the economic and biological overexploitation of fish resources, and threatening the very existence of some species.

New Zealand’s Quota Management System (QMS), based on Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs), has for a number of years figured as either ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ in the fisheries debate. For most economists the ITQ-system has been presented as the solution to inefficient state management, while many social scientists and biologists have considered the system as a recipe for uneven distribution, regional dislocations and unsustainable yields. A steady flow of ‘missionaries’ were eager to promote or prevent the introduction of ITQ-based systems in other countries. But what is the evidence? Has the QMS delivered according to the promises of economic efficiency, biological sustainability and reduced management costs?