Blue Governance in the Arctic and Antarctic

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Geir Hønneland

   Pages 1-10

3. The Precautionary Approach, Implementation and State Practice

   • Geir Hønneland

   Pages 11-27

4. The MSC Certification Scheme and the Precautionary Approach

   • Geir Hønneland

   Pages 29-41

5. MSC Certification of Antarctic and Arctic Fisheries

   • Geir Hønneland

   Pages 43-69

6. Influence on Target (Fisher) Behaviour and State Practice

   • Geir Hønneland

   Pages 71-91

7. Conclusions

   • Geir Hønneland

   Pages 93-100

This book discusses to what extent the precautionary approach to fisheries management is reflected in the MSC Fisheries Standard and in the certification of four clusters of fisheries in polar waters. Certification according to private sustainability standards (ecolabelling) has become an important addition to public fisheries management in recent years. The major global ecolabel in terms of comprehensiveness and coverage is the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard. Becoming and remaining certified requires continuous behavioural adaptation from fisheries through a fine-meshed system of improvement conditions attached to certification. Focus is on how certification has influenced fisher behaviour and state practice. In the Southern Ocean krill and toothfish fisheries, MSC certification has generated new scientific knowledge about the stocks. In the Barents Sea cod and haddock fisheries, fishing companies have voluntarily adapted their behaviour to reduce the fishery’s impacts on endangered, threatened and protected species and bottom habitats. In the local lumpfish fisheries in Greenland, Iceland and Norway, measures have been introduced to reduce the effects on seabirds and marine mammals. In the Northeast Atlantic mackerel fisheries, impacts have been more modest. Private certification is no panacea, but it seems to have found a niche as a supplement to national legislation and international agreements. 

• ecolabeling
• private-public partnerships
• law of the sea
• fisheries management
• polar politics

• Nord University and Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Bodø and Lysaker, Norway

  Geir Hønneland

Geir Hønneland is Adjunct Professor at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and Nord University, Norway. He holds a Ph.D. in political science and an LL.M. in the law of the sea and has published a number of books on international ocean governance, Arctic politics and Russian identity.

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