Is fisheries governance possible?

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Johnsen JP. Is fisheries governance possible?. Fish and Fisheries. 2014;15(3):428-444, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12024. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.Are there limits to the governability of a fishery? The establishment of a 200 nautical mile economic zone in Norway in 1977 made it possible to change from an open-access regime to a more closed one. In this process, the former self-regulating Norwegian fishing industry, to a large extent, accepted and adapted an explicit, hierarchical form of state-run governance. However, the process of change did not stop there. Since the turn of the millennium, we have seen the creation of a cybernetically organized fishing industry, where control, regulation and governance have become re-embedded in the industry. This article explores this radical new development and perspective on fisheries governance and governability based on lessons learned from technological and organizational changes in the Norwegian fishing industry