Project

The focus of the project is governance in fisheries with special emphasis on the role of management institutions in the decision-making process and the conditions under which management institutions work effectively and cost-efficiently. Associated questions of participation and representation of interests in fishery management, levels of decision‑making, factors influencing compliance/ non‑compliance behaviour, legitimacy and what is considered a valid knowledge base for management will be addressed by focusing on the following five research questions:

User-groups or broader stakeholder involvement - how are stakeholder interests voiced and mediated in management institutions?
The rationality of fisheries management - what is the overall rationality of the management institutions in terms of managing society's utilisation of its natural resource base and sharing access for interest groups?
The cost-effectiveness of fisheries management - how are transaction costs reflected in the design of management institutions?
The embeddedness of management institutions - to what extent are management institutions consistent and integrated with the cultural and social references of user and stakeholder groups?
The cognitive basis for management - how is knowledge about the resource system and other systems (e.g. the policy system) generated and used in management institutions, and what constitutes the social validity of such knowledge?

The research will eventually lead to submission of an anthology entitled: "Governance in fisheries - an institutional approach to management of fisheries" undertaking a structured analysis of the 5 research issues mentioned above. The aim is to disseminate the results to both the scientific community and policy‑makers in order to improve the performance of fisheries management systems in both developed and developing countries.

The overall objective of this project was to address the poor understanding of the links between management tools, fleet developments and the pressure exerted on fishing communities, and more precisely to supply fisheries managers with a modelling tool that will allow them evaluating the impact of regulations on the dynamics of fleets and fishing mortality.

The overall objectives of the project were to identify and understand specific shortcomings in the European fisheries policy and its implementation, which have contributed to the problems evident in several European fisheries, and to devise means for their rectification. The project focused on the knowledge production and decision-making within the fisheries management system, the interrelationships between these processes and the role played by stakeholders.

ITAC focuses on administrative arrangements to restrict and monitor fishing mortality. The aim is not only to describe regulatory arrangements, but to offer an understanding of how these systems function as wholes and why they have attained their present forms. An understanding of the management systems does not only require knowledge of the various institutions, but an understanding of how they are woven together - how they mutually restrict and shape each other. The main research question is: how and under which conditions can regulations aimed to restrict fishing mortality be successfully implemented at the administrative level?

The project will undertake four case studies divided on three different types of regulation schemes: 1) Direct catch regulation (Norwegian cod fisheries), 2) Capacity utilization (The Faroe Island demersal fishery) and 3) Indirect catch regulation (The North Sea cod recovery plan - having a Danish perspective & Recovery plans in Galicia).

Coordinator: Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute (NILF)

The project originates from viewing the Port of Aalborg (PoA) as an infrastructure hub. This perspective is inspired by dialogues with the PoA and existing literature that discusses ports as complex organizations influenced by economic, cultural, political, local community, geographical, administrative, and technological factors.

This view aligns with the aggregated level of the project, where our ambition is to understand what does it mean to be a sustainable infrastructure hub and focus on the PoA not merely as an individual entity but as an ecosystem consisting of multiple internal and external actors and systemic linkages between them. The purpose of the project is to uncover:
- What does being a sustainable infrastructure hub entail, and what are its most relevant sustainability performance assessment indicators?
- How can the PoA, as an infrastructure hub, improve its sustainability performance across the identified sustainability performance indicators?

The logic behind these two questions is predicated on the notion that if green transition performance cannot be measured, it becomes impossible to discuss the strategies and practices that make the complex hub constellation of the PoA greener and more sustainable.

Project Flow
Phase 1 (Q4 2024 - Q1 2025): State of the Art, Literature Insights and their Validation
Terminological and definitional clarity as well as an analytical framework for the key parameters and constructs of the project
Phase 2 (Q2 2025 - Q4 2025): Empirical insights into the PoA and other port infrastructures in Denmark and internationally
Cases of the PoA, as well as other ports' ecosystems, will be developed with the objective to benchmark them against established regulation/guideline systems
Phase 3 (Q1 2026 – Q2 2026): Co-developing recommendations and advice for the PoA based on the best practices distilled from other ports' cases and theoretical lenses.

Through the project 'Fiskens Fodaftryk', extensive work has been done to uncover key challenges related to assessments of the climate impact of Danish fisheries ('CO2 footprint') through life cycle assessments (Life Cycle Assessment, LCA). 'Fisheries' in this context covers the catch stage, although subsequent stages such as processing and transport also contribute to the climate impact of fish products via CO2 emissions related to these stages.

On a general level, the project has explored different methodological approaches, the importance of assumptions, data availability, and partly the communication challenges that may arise when calculating the climate impact of Danish fisheries. Ultimately, the project's results can contribute to future opportunities to work in a targeted and documentable manner to reduce the climate impact of Danish fisheries, where this is possible and appropriate. The project's insights will also be relevant in the context of the development of consumer-oriented environmental and climate labels or campaigns.

The project has focused in particular on examining the possibilities and limitations of making climate impact assessments based on data that is continuously and systematically collected at the national level for (approximately) the entire fisheries sector. Such an approach could potentially make it manageable to continuously produce uniform assessments that cover the entire fisheries sector, as models and data processing procedures can thus be applied uniformly and effectively to the entire sector.

The project is funded by the Fisheries Tax Fund 2020-2021, and the output and activities from the project are made available continuously via this page.

The overall aim of the project is to deliver a set of fully-costed ecosystem management options that would deliver the objectives of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, the European Commission Blue Book and the Guidelines for the Integrated Approach to Maritime Policy. This will be achieved by (i) providing a comprehensive knowledge base to support policy for the development of sustainable and integrated management of European marine ecosystems; (ii) developing Operational Objectives to achieve the High-Level Policy Objectives set by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Habitats Directive, and with reference to the proposed Maritime Policy; (iii) identifying Management Options (individual management tools and combinations of tools) to meet the Operational Objectives; (iv) providing a risk assessment framework for the evaluation of Management Options and to assess the risk associated with the different options; (v) conducting a cost-benefit analysis of a range of Management Options using appropriate techniques; (vi) identifying stakeholder opinions on the creation of governance structures directed towards implementation of the ecosystem approach, and elaborating different scenarios for changing governance structures and legislation to facilitate a gradual transition from the current fragmented management approach towards fully integrated ecosystem management; (vii) documenting the steps necessary for the transition from the current fragmented management scheme to a mature and integrated approach, and providing a toolkit that could be used to evaluate options for delivering ecosystem-based management; and (viii) communicating and consulting on the outcomes of the project effectively with policy makers and other relevant user groups.

The vision of MareFrame is to significantly increase the use of ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EAFM) when providing advice relating to European fish stocks. A more widespread use of EAFM is encouraged through development of new tools and technologies, development and extension of ecosystem models and assessment methods, and development of a decision support framework that can highlight alternatives and consequences. I addition, a widespread use of EAFM depends not only on collaboration with stakeholders in general, but on close integration and co-creation with stakeholders in all development phases, to ensure that ownership lies with them, and to increase the chance of acceptance and uptake of the project outcomes.

The objective of PERMAGOV is to assess and improve the performance of marine policies in supporting the implementation of the EU Green Deal goals. PERMAGOV does so by developing Multi-Layered Collaborative Marine Governance Strategies together with stakeholders. Project partners in PERMAGOV study institutional barriers, fragmented planning processes and insufficient possibilities for stakeholder involvement, which hinder the implementation of the EU Green Deal.

Focusing on specific cases within the four thematic fields of Maritime Transport, Marine Plastics, Marine Energy, and Marine Life, PERMAGOV is dedicated to improving the performance of marine governance at different scales. The project partners apply participatory research methods to enhance existing formal and informal dynamics and to leverage the use of relevant digital tools. Altogether this will facilitate stakeholder engagement and knowledge and information exchange. PERMAGOV provides a key contribution to the EU Green Deal for several marine domains by delivering actionable insights for better informed decision making by policy makers, by increasing public awareness of marine affairs, and by contributing to an improved conceptualization of problems and solutions in multi-layered marine governance.

Staff members from Centre for Blue Governance are broadly involved in the different aspects of the project.

PERMAGOV is funded by the EU's Horizon Europe programme.

Deep Seabed Mining (DSM) is the search for, and exploitation of, minerals and metals necessary to construct clean energy technologies. However, there are outstanding gaps and uncertainties as to the possible environmental impacts, and how to legally carry-out these activities, is not yet determined. This book will have state-of-the art learnings on how to conduct DSM in a just and sustainable way.