Scientific Knowledge and Participation in the Governance of Fisheries in the North Sea

Abstract

The participatory mode of fisheries governance is based on effective communications that are able to bring together the viewpoints of many stakeholders so that management decisions can be generated. This chapter offers a discussion of the relationship between stakeholder participation as it is taking place on a European scale and the generation of formal scientific knowledge for the management of fish stocks under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). It examines the demersal stocks in the North Sea in particular. Stakeholder participation has been an important factor leading to demands for changes on the ways in which formal scientific advice is generated and communicated. The impacts on scientific deliberations of three such demands are examined: a) a demand that advice shift from the fish stock to the fishery as its basic unit of reference; b) a demand that advice not be open to different interpretation by the various stakeholders; and c) a demand that the results of existing technical fisheries management measures be examined when preparing advice. The chapter concludes that a flatter decision making hierarchy could make possible both a richer knowledge base and greater public support for management decisions.