ESPON 2.1.5: Territorial Impacts of European Fisheries Policy

1. ESPON 2.1.5: Territorial Impacts of European Fisheries Policy Final Revised Report Prepared for the Espoo Seminar 14-15 November 2006 Ove Langeland, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, (NIBR), Norway

2. Objectives and research questions • Objectives: • Strengthen the knowledge of territorial, social and economic cohesion through an analysis of territorial impacts of the CFP - fisheries and aquaculture sector: • A European coastal typology • Spatial effects at European level and individual countries and their coastal areas • Territorial impacts in relation to ICZM • Policy recommendation • Hypothesis: • General territorial impact hypotheses • Social and economic impact hypotheses • ICZM/environment hypotheses • Fishery hypotheses • Example studies: • Central for hypotheses on urban-rural impacts of CFP • Unit of analysis (NUTS 3) unfit for studying territorial impacts, only LAU fishery dependent areas

3. Key findings • Diagnosis – development of the Fisheries sector • CFP: Main territorial impacts of the conservation policy: • Capture fisheries sub-sector: EU: Fleet reduction, decreased value of landed catch, employment reduction. EFTA: Resource situation relatively good, reduced employment due to technological changes • Aquaculture: Increased volume, value and employment in both EU and EFTA • Processing industry: EU: Employment reduction in some countries and regions, increased landings from non-EU countries (globalisation). EFTA: More difficult situation - factory trawlers, globalisation effects • Environmental impacts and ICZM • Fishery: Fleet reduction, but chronic overexploitation of fishery resources is still the greatest environmental concern of CFP • Aquaculture: Challenge to minimize negative environmental impacts and balance aquaculture interests with other coastal interests • ICZM: Demands both horizontal and vertical co-ordination in order to be effective • Spatial planning systems must cover both the terrestrial and the marine part of the coastal zone in order to be an effective tool for ICZM.

4. Key findings • Social cohesion Impacts • Different territorial fisheries systems/groups of coastal regions – a North/South dimension in Europe, some of these territories are strengthened, others weakened, also different development trends within the systems • Coastal regions with a large fisheries sector experience population declining processes more frequent than other coastal regions. • Lack of co-ordination between the implementation of economic measures in the CFP and the fish resource regulation policy. • Lack of integration between fisheries polices on national and European level, and a need for adjusting European sector policies of fisheries in accordance with European territorial policies. Economic cohesion Impacts • The effectiveness of FIFG programmes depends heavily on the region’s initial economic conditions and on the quality of national and regional administrations (absorptive capacity) • In general FIFG funds have been distributed progressively among regions, but the progressiveness decreased from the 1994-99 programming period to the 2000-06 period.

5. Policy options/recommendations • General policy recommendation • Policy measures to promote cohesion, territorially balanced development and polycentrism - but not one size fits all • Policy recommendations related to environmental impacts and ICZM • Integrate the terrestrial and marine environment in coastal planning and other ICZM activities. • Combine the best elements of the statutory spatial planning system with the best elements of the voluntary partnership approach - integrated solutions at the regional level of government. • Policy recommendations related to social cohesion • Better co-coordination of the implementation of the economic measures in CFP (the FIFG) and the fish resource regulation policy. • The interplay between fisheries policies implemented on national and European level should be better integrated. • The fisheries policy should be adjusted in accordance with the European territorial policies • Policy recommendations related to economic cohesion • Stronger focus on disparities due to proximity to resources, economic alternatives and administrative efficiency • Use example of dynamic regions as guides for the best practice.

6. Typologies on ESPON space should try to combine European typologies with national typologies (national average) as a combined macro and micro typologies approach in territorial analyses. One should compare several sector policies in different coastal regions (area studies) in order to analyse territorial impacts in a more comprehensive way, and search for possible potentials and obstacles in different regions. The typology for coastal regions (NUTS 3) developed in 2.1.5 could be used for selecting the different regions. Develop a better specification of the concept related to fishery dependency One should strive for a better organisation of collection and use of data, for instance by developing a common Eurostat/ESPON database which is divided in a statistical database and an indicator database. Data should also be regionalised as far as possible. Typologies, data and recommendation for ESPON 2013

7. Future research • Study how territorial impacts can vary with: • The potential and preconditions for innovation and restructuring in different coastal regions and fisheries dependent areas, for instance between economically diversified regions, and more economically specialised regions, in urban and peripheral territories • Different kinds of fisheries management, CFP on macro level, RAC on meso level and national implementation on micro level, and the interplay between the different management systems • Differences in national implementation of sector policies, including fisheries policy • How different ICZM approaches can function as tools for a sustainable and balanced development in coastal regions, with particular focus of the aquaculture industry.