Abstract
One of the objectives of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is to increase the contribution of fisheries to fish food availability and self-sufficiency. Still, the use of catch is often a secondary concern in fisheries governance and management – or not a concern at all – while the focus is on harvesting. This paper examines how the use of forage fish for human consumption can be increased within the limits of sustainability, using Baltic herring as a case study. Baltic herringcontains high levels ofdioxins and the humanconsumption is very low: the catches are mostly used for industrial purposes. The paper uses a participatory backcasting exercise to define a desirable future vision for the use of Baltic herring catch and to develop pathways of actor-specific governance actions to increase the use of the fish as a safe-to-eat food. The results reveal that increasing the contribution of forage fish, such as Baltic herring, to food security entails a paradigm shift in fisheries governance that involves 1) inclusion of well-defined objectives for catch use in the EU CFP and the related regional multiannual plans, 2) broadening thescope of theMSY-driven governance and management to one that addresses catch use, and 3) proactivecatch use governance.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Marine Policy |
Volume | 97 |
Pages (from-to) | 211-219 |
Number of pages | 9 |
ISSN | 0308-597X |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2018 |
Keywords
- Participatory backcasting
- catch use governance
- paradigm shift
- forage fish
- dioxins