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Global Governance
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Global Governance

Contested Norms on the High Seas

This project "Contested Norms on the High Seas: Europe as a Global Actor in the Fisheries Sector (FISHEU)" was funded by the Joint Issues of Our Society programme Europe and Global Challenges of the VolkswagenFoundation (Germany), Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfonds (Sweden). It addressed the European Union’s role as a key player in policy-making to counter the global challenge of fish-stock extinction. 

The underlying observations were that first, on a global scale, the EU's fisheries policy scores more as a laggard than as a leader, and second, knowledge transfer between scientific assessments and policy implementation remains to be improved. At stake were issues of acceptance, recognition and legitimacy of fisheries policy among a complex set of stake-holders. Communication gaps were identified to play a central role for the development of sustainable fisheries policy. Theoretically, fishstock extinction and contested compliance are new governance problems that are of interest for norms research. The project argued that beyond compliance with quotas sustainable fisheries policy needs to address issues of sociocultural survival. To grasp the impact of communication, the project was interdisciplinary, drawing on sociology, international relations theory, world society approches and international law.

Please find here information about activities and outcomes:

Activities

  • Planning Workshop, University of Hamburg, 22-23 January 2010, Sydney (March 4-5 2010), Bielefeld (March 11-12 2010), Wien (March 25-26 2010). Research on bluefin tuna regulation in the south of Spain (Tarifa) spring and August 2010. 
  • Workshop on "Contested Norms of Fisheries Governance", Copenhagen Business School, 3.-4. Juni 2011. The Workshop is funded by VW, the Copenhagen Business School and University of Hamburg.

Outcomes