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Reform Drivers and Reform Obstacles in Natural Resource Management: The Northeast Atlantic Fisheries from 1945 to the Present

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An Erratum to this article was published on 14 September 2010

Abstract

The ability to transform historical learning into institutional reform is a key to success in the management of common pool natural resources. Based on a model of institutional inertia and a comparative analysis of Northeast Atlantic fisheries management from 1945 to the present, the paper aims to identify drivers and obstacles to learning-based institutional reform. We argue that the ineffectiveness of implementation systems has been a key driver of reform requirements, but that the need for agreement amongst a large number of interdependent decision makers has been an obstacle to required reform. In such situations, distribution systems, especially, tend to become important obstacles to reform. Institutional inertia tends to be reinforced by tacit discourse frames: however, strong tensions between institutional inertia and needs for reform may also create room for innovation. Institutional inertia entails that large-scale management reform tends to be crisis driven.

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Notes

  1. Fishing mortality is defined as the proportion of a fish stock killed because of fishing (FAO 2008).

  2. A fleet’s fishing capacity can be simply defined as its ability to catch fish. Fishing capacity is influenced by e.g., the number of vessels, their tonnage, horsepower and technology.

  3. This act has recently been replaced by the Act on the Management of Marine Living Resources of 2008, but the basic management principles remain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Innovative Fisheries Management, Hirtshals, Denmark

    Stig S. Gezelius, Jesper Raakjær & Troels Jacob Hegland

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  1. Stig S. Gezelius
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  2. Jesper Raakjær
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  3. Troels Jacob Hegland
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Correspondence to Stig S. Gezelius.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10745-010-9351-1

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Gezelius, S.S., Raakjær, J. & Hegland, T.J. Reform Drivers and Reform Obstacles in Natural Resource Management: The Northeast Atlantic Fisheries from 1945 to the Present. Hum Ecol 38, 471–483 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-010-9337-z

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