Making Sami Seascapes Matter : ethno-ecological governance in coastal Norway

Abstract

This thesis addresses the lack of knowledge production on impacts of new marine industries on coastal Sami culture in the Norwegian coastal zone. It asks how Sami culture matters in contemporary Norwegian marine governance, and discusses how ecosystem mapping practices facilitate knowledge production on Sami relations and use of the marine environment. This is done through five papers and a film, focusing on the Porsanger and Lyngen fjords in northern Norway, analyzing 1) the characteristics of Sami fisheries and seascapes, 2) how Sami fisheries are enacted through fisheries management and Sami rights mapping practices, and 3) how knowledge is produced about Sami culture and how it is represented in ecosystem governance. What can be observed in the period since 1989 is a diversification and polarization of the coastal small-scale fishing fleet ranging from the very small-scale to the full-fledged industrial coastal fishing vessel. Fisheries governance practices as well as Sami rights mapping practices however tend to enact an image of Sami culture as uniform and having the same needs and challenges independent of social and ecological contexts, which is materialized in universal solutions to the whole population in the Sami settlement area. Current ethno-ecological governance mapping practices offer an image of Sami culture as connected to vulnerable and valuable ethno-ecological spaces to be protected from environmental threats. This materializes ethno-ecological seascapes, but it does little to materialize cultural diversity and multiple knowledge products in the coastal zone. These are mainly the Marine Resource Act (2009), the Nature Diversity Act (2009) and the Planning and Building Act (2008), following the increased political influence of the Sami Parliament through the Consultation Agreement (2005). The thesis identifies alternative local knowledge production practices as remedial actions for increasing the knowledge base on how culture and coastal societies are impacted by new industries in the coastal zone.