Stakeholder Preferences for Management of the Danish Protein Fisheries in the North Sea

Research PaperManagement of the Danish protein fisheries in the North Sea has during recent years become increasingly politicised, as various stakeholder groups are seeking influence on the decision-making process. In relation to management of the sand eel and Norway pout fisheries, two different issues are debated. In the sand eel fishery, which is the most important fishery (value and volume), particularly British environmental organizations are accusing Danish fishers of removing the food base for important sea bird populations and commercial fish stocks, and thus the conflict of interest is primarily between fishers and environmental groups. The Norway pout fishery is a classic example of a within fisheries conflict (national or international). There is a clash of interest between fishers targeting Norway pout and fishers targeting species for human consumption, because there is a large by catch of primarily (haddock and whiting) in this fishery. In this paper the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied to evaluate stakeholder preference towards the management of the two protein fisheries (sand eel and Norway pout). The research is based on interviews and a questionnaire survey with 12 different stakeholders in Denmark and the UK. The stakeholders represent industry organizations, management authorities, government fisheries research institutions and environmental organizations. Comparisons are made between different stakeholder preferences and the conflicts of interest are analysed. The results from the AHP analysis have been supplemented with qualitative information in order to present a more in-depth picture of the arguments presented by the various stakeholders, which are tunnelled into the decision-making process regarding the management of the sand eel and Norway pout fisheries in the North Sea