An analysis of the “on/off” Barents Sea capelin fishery: Implications for sustainable management of a fluctuating fish stock

Abstract

Managing an unstable fishery is a difficult task. After Barents Sea capelin reached its peak harvest volumes, it shortly after collapsed in 1986, negatively impacting the ecosystem. After its recovery due to increased management efforts, the capelin fishery has seen fluctuating quota volumes and extended periods of closed fishing activity. However, this unstable quota has caused some challenges for the fishery's management and sustainability. Previous literature often focuses on the ecological side of the situation, or narrow specific topics, which leads to not viewing the fishing industry as a whole, potentially not covering all the challenges that appear from an on/off fishery. To find the implications of a fluctuating quota, this thesis looks at the entire capelin fishery development, the fishing industry, and stakeholders. Governmental reports from the last ten years the fishery was open (2003-2022), and semi-structured interviews with the various stakeholders present in the capelin industry were conducted to give insight into the entire fishery. The results showed that the main challenges were caused by the requirement to have strict regulations because of the biological attributes of the stock. This unstable nature creates inconsistent quotas and breaks in the fishery, which causes difficulties for the post-harvest sector, and different opinions on how to manage the fishery sustainably.