Improving or overturning the ITQ system? Views of stakeholders in Icelandic fisheries

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Icelandic fisheries have gone through tremendous changes since the 1980s and the gradual implementation of individual transferable quotas. The paper investigates to what extent the power of different stakeholders in the fisheries management system has changed, and examines whether and in which fields enhanced participation is favoured by relevant stakeholder groups. Strengths and weaknesses of participation within the system are scrutinized and alternatives assessed. The analytical framework stems from the concept of adaptive co-management, whereas the empirical data derives from a survey on Icelandic fisheries management among important stakeholder groups. This survey showed that the critique of individual transferable quotas is not homogeneous. Regional differences are present regarding the evaluation of the current regime, but also of proposed alternative management instruments. Overall, more stakeholder participation, especially in data gathering and decision making, is demanded. This has in fact decreased over time. The authors suggest that the perceived shortcomings of the quota system in general and the lack of stakeholder participation in particular, can be addressed by adopting certain elements of adaptive co-management.Peer Reviewe

Tumorstammzellmarker beim Ovarial- und Mammakarzinom: Bedeutung der ALDH Aktivität und der CDCP1 Expression

In dieser Arbeit wurde die Bedeutung der ALDH Aktivität und CDCP1 Expression für Tumorzelllinien des Mammakarzinoms, des Lungenadenokarzinoms, und des Ovarialkarzinoms sowie für primäres ovariales Tumorgewebe untersucht. Beiden Markern ist eine Assoziation mit erhöhtem Metastasierungspotential sowie mit invasivem Wachstum und Resistenz gegenüber Chemotherapie gemein. Ziel war herauszufinden ob jeweils eine Assoziation zu Tumorstammzellpotential besteht. Eine Tumorstammzellassoziation ergab sich für beide Marker bei Leukämie und für die ALDH auch bei weiteren soliden humanen Tumoren, wie dem Mammakarzinom. Jedoch ist die funktionelle Rolle der ALDH nicht für jedes Gewebe gleichbedeutend oder sie ist noch unklar; aktuelle Daten zum Ovarialkarzinom sind widersprüchlich. Zunächst wurden sämtliche Zelllinien im Aldefluor-Assay, bzw. durch Verwendung des primären Antikörpers CUB2 auf ihre Markerexpression hin analysiert. Anschließ-end wurde das Tumorstammzellpotential der positiv markierten Zellpopulationen im Sphärenassay untersucht. Beim Ovarialkarzinom wurden zusätzlich Zellzyklusanaly-sen und Untersuchungen der Differenzierungskapazität durchgeführt. Es ergab sich, dass CDCP1 sowohl in der Durchflusszytometrie als auch im Sphä-renassay nicht geeignet ist umschriebene Populationen zu isolieren. Dagegen zeigte sich beim Mammakarzinom bei der ALDH positiven Population der Zelllinie SKBR-3 ein stärkeres Potential gegenüber der negativen Population Sphären zu bilden. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass auch beim Ovarialkarzinom Sphärenbildung möglich ist und dass die Fähigkeit der Ovarosphärenbildung in Zusammenhang mit der ALDH Aktivität steht. Auch das Proliferationspotential der ovarialen ALDH positiven Popula-tion, im Fall von der Zelllinie OVCAR-3, unterscheidet sich signifikant von dem der ALDH negativen Population. Allerdings zeigte sich hier auch bei der ALDH negativen Population eine Differenzierung in Richtung ALDH positiver Zellen. Die Daten dieser Arbeit zeigen, dass CDCP1 nicht als Tumorstammzelmarker benut-zt werden kann. Anders verhält es sich bei der ALDH, deren erhöhte Aktivität, bei verschiedenen humanen Tumoren, wie dem Mammakarzinom mit Stammzellpotential assoziiert ist, was durch diese Arbeit belegt wurde. Der Sphären-Assay konnte für die ALDH positive Tumorzellpopulation des Ovarialkarzioms etabliert werden und dieser Population somit Stammzellpotential zugesprochen werden. Untersuchungen der Proliferationskapazität widersprechen dem Tumorstammzellcharakter der ALDH positiven Population beim Ovarialkarzinom jedoch. Definitiv kennzeichnet dieser funktionelle Marker Zellen mit erhöhter proliferativer Kapazität

Prosper or perish? The development of Icelandic fishing villages after the privatisation of fishing rights

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Icelandic fish stocks underwent privatisation in 1990, when existing fishing quotas were made fully transferable. The country’s system of individual transferable quotas has since been held up as a paragon of virtue for sustainable fisheries. This might be valid for ecological and most economic concerns, but for a truly sustainable fisheries management system the question of social impacts has to be addressed as well. This paper evaluates the performance of Icelandic fisheries management from a spatial and social point of view. The theoretical framing stems from the concepts of resilience and vulnerability. Through cluster and correlation analyses, different development trajectories of Icelandic fishing communities since 1990 are revealed. The results are presented on maps. Even though it is no longer the country’s largest economic sector, the livelihood of many small and remote settlements is strongly connected to the fisheries. Consolidation has taken place in the fisheries and rural-to-urban migration has continued. The majority of coastal communities can be classified as vulnerable, regarding the status of the local fishing industry in 2014. Regarding demographic development, the number of vulnerable communities was significantly higher in 2014 than it was at the early 1990s.The research was funded by a grant from the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís, grant number 152268–051). Apart from financial support for the PhD student involved, the funding body had no further role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.Peer Reviewe

A framework for results-based management in fisheries

We thank the project consortium and remain grateful to the institutions and stakeholders that made this research possible. The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 265401 (the EcoFishMan project). This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the and neither the European Union nor Marine Scotland can be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. We are indebted to Poul Degnbol and two anonymous reviewers for detailed and very constructive feedback and to Melania Borit for contributing to the design of figure 1.Peer reviewedPostprin

Seigla íslenskra sjávarbyggða

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of a Philosophiae Doctor degree in GeographyDesigning a truly sustainable fisheries management regime has been a challenge internationally. Iceland is not an exception in this regard. Icelandic fisheries and their management has gone through tremendous changes since the 1980s. The implementation of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) was especially important. During the same period, Icelandic coastal communities have faced major socio-economic and demographic challenges. A very prominent question in public and political debates has been to what extent the development in the fishing industry has played a part in the negative development of many fishing communities. Yet, questions about the regional and local development implications of the Icelandic fisheries management system have never been answered unequivocally. Available data have not been utilized fully in order to understand the complex processes that have affected fisheries-dependent localities. One way to approach such questions is provided by the concept of resilience. The assessment of the resilience of Icelandic fisheries communities to the structural changes in the fishing industry was the focal point of this research project. In addition, the notion of structural change – from a social and geographic point of view – is introduced and combined with a theoretical treatise of fundamental values such as solidarity and justice. A quantitative, countrywide analysis was undertaken, making use of diverse existing data, on fisheries on the one hand and on local socioeconomic developments on the other. This statistical analysis was supplemented with qualitative data, derived from case studies. Two communities that have followed different development trajectories were chosen for an in-depth analysis of those factors that have contributed to a higher or lower degree of resilience. Substantial differences were found in the level of resilience of these two coastal villages. The analysis has revealed two theoretical limitations of the concept of resilience as it has been used in social science: the often narrow focus on endogenous strategies, which does not pay much attention to the broader political economy; and the avoidance of the inevitable discussion of a socially acceptable ‘endpoint’ to resilience-building measures. These weaknesses are addressed in the theoretical discussion of the concept that is presented in the thesis. This thesis thus addresses a crucial domestic issue, as well as contributing to a very important and rapidly evolving field of science that centers on resilience, regional development and fisheries management. This is combined with a call for considering flexible and inclusive ‘top-led, bottom-fed’ approaches, breaking the rigid dichotomy of bottom-up and top-down strategies.Víðs vegar um heim hefur reynst erfitt að koma á fót fiskveiðistjórnunarkerfum sem eru sjálfbær í víðri merkingu þess orðs. Ísland er þar engin undantekning. Sjávarútvegur og fiskveiðistjórnun á Íslandi hefur tekið miklum breytingum síðan á níunda áratug síðustu aldar. Innleiðing framseljanlegra fiskveiðiheimilda (kvóta) var eitt af því sem mestu máli skipti. Á sama tíma hafa íslenskar sjávarbyggðir staðið frammi fyrir erfiðum úrlausnarefnum er varða efnahagslíf og íbúafjölda. Í stjórnmálum og almennri samfélagsumræðu hefur mjög verið rætt um að hve miklu leyti neikvæða þróun margra sjávarbyggða megi rekja til breytinga í sjávarútvegi. Spurningum um áhrif íslenska fiskveiðistjórnunarkerfisins á svæði og byggðir hefur aldrei verið svarað á afgerandi hátt. Tiltæk gögn hafa ekki verið nýtt að fullu til skilnings á þeim flóknu ferlum sem hafa verið að verki í sjávarbyggðunum. Hugtakið „seigla“ getur varpað ljósi á spurningar um þessi efni. Í verkefninu var þess freistað að leggja mat á seiglu íslenskra sjávarbyggða. Kenningar um breytingar á formgerð atvinnulífs – frá félags- og landfræðilegum sjónarhóli – eru reifaðar og settar í samhengi við fræðilega umfjöllun um grundvallargildi á borð við samstöðu og réttlæti. Gerð var megindleg greining á landsvísu, þar sem margvísleg fyrirliggjandi gögn um sjávarútveginn og staðbundna þróun efnahagslífs og samfélags voru nýtt. Til viðbótar hinni tölfræðilegu greiningu voru gerðar tilviksathuganir þar sem eigindlegum gögnum var safnað. Tvö byggðarlög sem hafa þróast með ólíkum hætti voru rannsökuð til að fá dýpri skilning á þeim atriðum sem hafa stuðlað að meiri eða minni seiglu. Verulegur munur á seiglu kom í ljós í þessum tveimur sjávarbyggðum. Greiningin leiðir í ljós tvenns konar takmarkanir seiglu-hugtaksins, eins og því hefur verið beitt í félagsvísindum. Oft hefur hugtakið leitt til þröngrar áherslu á byggðaþróun sem sprottin sé af innrænum forsendum, án þess að veitt sé athygli þeim ramma sem félags- og hagfræðileg formgerð setur. Umræðunni um hvort eða hvenær sé réttmætt, í samfélagslegum skilningi, að hætta tilraunum til að auka seiglu, hefur enn fremur verið ýtt til hliðar. Fjallað er fræðilega um þessa veikleika í ritgerðinni. Doktorsverkefni þetta tekur á efni sem mikilvægt í íslensku samhengi, en leggur einnig til fræðilegrar umræðu á afar mikilvægum sviðum, þar sem fengist er við seiglu, svæðisbundna þróun og fiskveiðistjórnun. Lagt er til að hin stífa tvíhyggja sem gerir ráð fyrir ofanstýrðri nálgun annars vegar eða neðanstýrðri hinsvegar verði aflögð. Í staðinn verði unnið að mótun sveigjanlegri nálgunar, þar sem stjórnvöld leiða en heimafólk er einnig virkir gerendurFunding from the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís)

Community resilience: a useful concept for declining Icelandic communities?

In recent years, resilience has become an increasing focal point of community studies, in particular for settlements in the peripheral north, which face severe socio-economic and demographic challenges. Not all researchers and practitioners were equally excited about the transfer of this concept – deeply rooted in ecology – to the social sciences. Unsurprisingly there is a growing literature that engages critically with community resilience. This reflection takes up some of the main criticism and projects it onto Iceland; a country that can serve as magnifier in the exploration of community resilience for a variety of reasons. The main aim of this reflection is to keep the discussion going about theoretical and analytical insufficiencies within the field of community resilience. Shortcomings of existing definitions, the role of politics and agency as well as the determination of equilibria and the question of an endpoint to resilience are the essential strands of argumentation

Trends der Nahversorgung in ländlichen Räumen

During the past decades grocery-retailing in Germany has experienced a structural change towards less but larger shops. Particularly in small villages within rural areas it is problematic to ensure the supply with daily goods in walking distance or locally. In order to adequately analyse the existing challenges and develop solutions, the current trends in local supply need to be examined and assessed with regard to their potential impact on rural areas. Against this background, this working paper assesses recent studies and scientific publications that focus on grocery retailing and e-commerce. As a result, the consolidation of long-lasting trends and the emergence of new trends, the stability of which still remains to be seen, is evident. Among the persisting trends, the strong competitiveness and the market concentration on a few chains are most prominent. In addition, and due to differentiated demand, small stores are replaced by larger ones for assuring a sufficient range of products. Then again, the market share of hypermarkets is decreasing. One reason for this decrease is the lack of time or time pressure felt by consumers, which results in less frequent shopping trips and the connection of shopping trips with other activities. Regarding the means of transport, the car is most frequently used for shopping trips, particularly in rural areas. The share of elderly people with access to a car has been increasing steadily during the past few years and thus the necessity for supply in walking distance became less urgent. The decrease of grocery stores in general continues, but is less intense than between 2005 and 2010. In addition, consumer surveys indicate that the high price sensitivity, that has been typical of Germany, has declined somewhat and that consumers are increasingly focussing on the quality of goods. Accordingly supermarkets and discounter adjusted regarding the product range and pricing. This development opens up potential for new formats, such as e-commerce, mobile supply and small-format concepts. Delivery costs are one major challenge for e-commerce in rural areas, especially since consumers show low willingness to pay for such services. Hence, e-commerce is growing primarily in urban agglomerations and has limited potential in rural settings in its current form. The same applies for delivery-formats such as crowd-delivery that focus on challenges regarding the ‘last-mile’. In its current form the realisation is limited and not a feasible option for solving supply-problems in rural areas