45
© The Author(s) 2016
M. Gilek et al. (eds.), Environmental Governance of the Baltic Sea,
MARE Publication Series 10, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-27006-7_3
Chapter 3
Fisheries: A Case Study of Baltic Sea
Environmental Governance
Piet Sellke , Marion Dreyer , and Sebastian Linke
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.
Keywords EU fi sheries management • Uncertainty • Stakeholder participation •
Communication • Regionalisation
P. Sellke (*) • M. Dreyer
DIALOGIK , Lerchenstrasse 22 , 70176 Stuttgart , Germany
e-mail: sellke@dialogik-expert.de; dreyer@dialogik-expert.de
S. Linke
Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science , University of Gothenburg ,
Box 200 , 405 30 Göteborg , Sweden
e-mail: sebastian.linke@gu.se
© The Author(s) 2016
M. Gilek et al. (eds.), Environmental Governance of the Baltic Sea,
MARE Publication Series 10, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-27006-7_3
Chapter 3
Fisheries: A Case Study of Baltic Sea
Environmental Governance
Piet Sellke , Marion Dreyer , and Sebastian Linke
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.
Keywords EU fi sheries management • Uncertainty • Stakeholder participation •
Communication • Regionalisation
P. Sellke (*) • M. Dreyer
DIALOGIK , Lerchenstrasse 22 , 70176 Stuttgart , Germany
e-mail: sellke@dialogik-expert.de; dreyer@dialogik-expert.de
S. Linke
Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science , University of Gothenburg ,
Box 200 , 405 30 Göteborg , Sweden
e-mail: sebastian.linke@gu.se