Rural resource use and environmentalisation: governance challenges in Finnish coastal fisheries

Kirjoittajat

• Pekka Salmi Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute

Abstrakti

Fisheries provide an example of a rural resource using sector which has been confronted by the rise of environmental concerns and practices. Contradictions that have emerged in this environmentalisation process form the basis for governance analysis in this paper, resting on the conceptual framework of interactive governance. The main research question is: how are the complex fisheries-environmental conflicts governed? More specific questions are 1) what kinds of governance instruments are designed and used and 2) how do the governance structures affect the design and use of governance instruments and their capability of managing conflicts. These questions will be studied in the context of two debates concerning Finnish fishing livelihood and animal protection, namely the cases of grey seals and cormorants. The governance instruments are divided in 1) policy instruments and 2) conflict mitigation instruments. Policy instruments offer co-governance forums for interest group collaboration and propose practical instruments for conflict mitigation.