ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the approach to governance in European fisheries. It assesses co-management in practice through an exploration of new or existing opportunities for strengthening the role of fishermen’s organisations (FOs) and developing a more effective system of management for fisheries in the European Union. There are more severe challenges, with origins in the very complexity and dynamics of the fishing industry and its institutional and social ecology. Fulfilment of the Fishermen’s Associations political objectives usually calls for vertical structures linking the local grass-roots associations with the larger generally national organizations. The chapter reviews the role and positioning of FOs in present and future management systems in three case study countries: Denmark, Spain and the UK. The extent of incorporation of the knowledge, experience and understanding of the fishing industry within the policy making system also varies between the study nations.
