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The regulative lock-in: the challenge of establishing Sami fisheries governance in Norway

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Abstract

For almost 30 years, the Sami Parliament has worked to gain influence in the Norwegian fisheries governing system in order to secure Sami fisheries as the material basis of Sami culture. Due to developments in international law and their implementation in state law, the Sami Parliament has gained formal access to the country’s fisheries governance decision-making process. This paper addresses the challenges for a Sami fisheries approach to gain influence in the national governance system. A major issue relates to differences between the institutional design of the Norwegian system, with ecosystem health, profitability and individual welfare as main concerns, while important pillars formulated by the Sami Parliament are subsidiarity and collective rights. In this article, we discuss what might be the way forward for a Sami fisheries policy to expand within the Norwegian fisheries governance system.

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Notes

  1. The Norwegian Sami Parliament (established 1989) is the main political institution for strengthening the Sami’s political, social and cultural position. It is a democratically elected body comprised of 39 representatives elected every 4 years. Only those who chose to register in the Sami Electoral Register have the right to vote. About 17,000 persons are listed in the electoral register, which is the only official register of Sami in Norway. From September 2017 to February 2018, about 600 new persons enrolled. Source: https://www.nrk.no/finnmark/-eg-kan-ikkje-spraket_-men-eg-er-samisk-1.13900895, https://www.sametinget.no/Valg/Valgmanntall, accessed 28 February 2018)

  2. Vessels longer than 10 m got a gradual curtailment of their quota according to vessel length down to 50% for vessels longer than 28 m. The 1990 allocation was later converted into a system with quota factors (QF) according to vessel length and with the curtailment built into the QF system.

  3. UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 27, secured Sami as an ethnic minority, while the Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (No. 169) secured the Sami as an indigenous people.

  4. Paragraph 108 in the Norwegian Constitution states (authors’ translation): ‘It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop their language, culture and way of life’.

  5. The suggested geographical zone had the same administrative scope as the ‘Sami Development Fund’ (‘Samisk utviklingsfond’ in Norwegian), which includes Finnmark county and parts of Troms County and Nordland County. The Fund has been a permanent arrangement since 1985 (from 1975 to 1985 it was a temporary arrangement). In 1992, its objective was revised so it also could give economic support to non-Sami habitants within its geographical scope, on condition that activities led to advancing measures of cultural, social and economic importance for the Sami. The Fund’s scope has expanded within the three counties along with the growth of the Sami Electoral Register (see footnote 1). The Fund was initially directed at supporting traditional Sami economic activities such as small-scale fisheries, but has become a means for a general economic development in Sami settlement areas (Nygaard and Skålnes 2007).

  6. The baseline is the line of points from which a nation defines the breadth of its maritime zones. Normal baselines follow the low water line along the coast. Due to its indented coast, Norway uses straight baselines between appropriate points. See: UN Law of the Sea, http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part2.htm, (accessed 12 June, 2018).

  7. The process of making legislation in Norway is described by the parliament: https://www.stortinget.no/en/In-English/About-the-Storting/Legislation/, accessed 19. January 2018.

  8. An English translation of the MRA is available here (accessed 24 May 2018): https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/fkd/vedlegg/diverse/2010/marineresourcesact.pdf

  9. The consultation arrangement is not fixed by law, but in May 2018, the Sami Parliament, The Norwegian Reindeer Association (Norske reindriftssamers landsforbund in Norwegian) and the government reached an agreement about a private bill on consultation rules which is planned to be brought before the Norwegian Parliament in June 2018. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/sametingsradet-og-regjeringen-enige-om-lovregler-for-konsultasjoner/id2600801/, accessed 29 May 2018; https://www.regjeringen.no/no/tema/urfolk-og-minoriteter/samepolitikk/midtspalte/konsultasjonsplikt-i-samiske-saker/id86931/, accessed 11 February 2018.

  10. The JNRFC is the high-level body for management of shared marine resources between Norway and Russia such as the North-East Arctic Cod. The commission sets quotas for the respective stocks and agrees upon binding management measures for both countries. The membership is restricted to official bodies, experts and the most relevant stakeholder groups.

  11. As a main rule, vessels over 15 m are not allowed to fish within the Fjord lines. This was originally a measure for protection of the coastal cod stock, but it is also protecting fishing grounds used by small-scale fishers from competition by larger vessels.

  12. An additional quantity of cod is allocated to the fishers in the open group in the Sami area to strengthening small-scale fisheries/fjord fishers.

  13. A regional reform may result in a merging between two of the counties, but will probably not change the set-up of the FFB.

  14. Reference to the High Court Sentence: HR-2013-2200-P.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers and Maarten Bavinck for useful comments. Thanks are due to Proof-Reading Service (www.proof-reafing-service.com) for thorough editing and proof reading.

Funding

This article is funded by the Norwegian College of Fishery Science and the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Jahn Petter Johnsen

  2. School of Business and Economics, University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Siri Ulfsdatter Søreng

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  1. Jahn Petter Johnsen
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The authors have contributed equally to the article. Both authors have critically reviewed text written by the other and have contributed to writing and editing all parts of the document. Both authors agree with the analysis and conclusion.

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Correspondence to Jahn Petter Johnsen.

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Johnsen, J.P., Søreng, S.U. The regulative lock-in: the challenge of establishing Sami fisheries governance in Norway. Maritime Studies 17, 253–261 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0119-3

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