1 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea ICES CM 2001/Y:01 MANAGEMENT OF FISH RESOURCES IN TWO DIFFERENT CITY ARCHIPELAGOS Hans Ackefors1and Christer Olburs2 1Department of Zoology, Stockholm university, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden, +46-8-164020, fax +46-8-167715, e-mail: [email protected] 2WWF Sweden, Ulriksdals Slott, SE-17081 Solna, Sweden, +46-8-6247417, fax +46-8-851329, e-mail: [email protected] The objectives of this paper are to describe the basis for management of fish resources in two different archipelagos, outside densely populated regions on the east-coast and west-coast of Sweden. The coastal zone of Stockholm area with more than 1 ½ million inhabitants and Gothenburg area with about 1 million have a great impact on the coastal zones. The areas that drains into the coastal waters of both regions are very large with many industries, agriculture, forestry and urban areas. The sea areas outside the two cities are of different characters, one with marine water of high salinity and the other with brackish water, resulting in ecosystems with very different fish faunas. On the west-coast the marine fish and shellfish species dominate with more than 30 species of some commercial interest. On the east-coast the fishfauna is a mix of species of marine and fresh water origin. In total there are 10 species of commercial interest. The marine species, cod and herring and sprat, dominate the catches in the Baltic. During the last 50 years the diversity of highly migratory species, especially in the west-coast area, has declined. The management of fish resources in a heavily densely populated area is especially difficult. For historical and biological reasons different ways of management have been developed. In the main part of the archipelagos on the east-coast privately owned water including fishing right exists, in contrast to the west-coast with no private ownership except fishing rights on oyster ground. The structure of the professional fisheries in the two areas also show great differences. On the west-coast many fishermen work full-time with fisheries while the east-coast fishermen often combine the fishing with other occupations. In the former area the commercial dimension in fisheries has been more important and the fishing industry has had a great impact on the societies along the coast. The pre-requisites for management of the fishery are thus very different between the two areas. There is an urgent need to improve the management of the fish resources in the areas for biologically and socio-economical reasons. Within the EU framework there is a possibility for the regional and local management of fish populations in the coastal zone. In this paper we discuss the need for and possibilities of a regional and local management of fish populations in the coastal zone. 1. Introduction Coastal zone management and integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) are concepts more and more commonly used. The word management in this context is sometimes used as a synonym to planning which can create much confusion. A strict definition of the geographical limitations of the “coastal zone” is lacking. According to some authors the coastal zone reaches at least 50 km inland. In a near future the majority of the citizens will live in that zone. The outer limit is usually considered to coincide with the territorial (water) border, 12 nm outside the base line. The cities in the coastal zone use the aquatic environment for many purposes; building, construction, discharge of sewage water, shipping etc. Almost every aspect of the aquatic environment is heavily affected by human activities and hence the fish fauna including the fishery. On the other hand the professional and recreational fisheries also influence the resources including the environment. The management of the fish resources in a coastal zone is especially complicated in densely populated areas. The fundamentals of management can be summarised as; What to manage? Who is the manager? and How to manage? Since the borders of the administrative units (County and Municipality) are not in accordance with biological, hydrographical and geomorphological units , the management of fish populations are difficult. The smallest administrative unit is the Municipality. Its jurisdiction comprises not only the land area, but also the coastal water out to 12 n.m. according to Swedish law. On the regional level the County Board is responsible for the co- 2 ordination of the management of aquatic resources in those Municipalities situated within the County. On the central level the Swedish Government is responsible that all decisions are in accordance with international agreements and regulations as well as national legislation. The management of the fish resources is thus not a simple matter. The management of fish resources consists of two parts, on one hand the managements of the resource itself from a conservation perspective and on the other hand the management of the resource from an exploitation perspective. By tradition the latter perspective has dominated and has been based on the Fishery Act. However, both aspects of the fish resources must be considered according to Swedish legislation. The overall management system for the environment and the fishery on central level is administrated by two bodies; viz. Environment Protection Board and National Fishery Board ( Ackefors and Grip 1995). Gothenburg and Stockholm are the two biggest cities in Sweden both situated at the coast with wide archipelagos between the urban areas and the open sea. Both cities were founded at river mouths, which form estuaries with vast drainage areas. The a correct/good management of the aquatic resources is particularly important close to big cities. The environmental impact on the fish resources may be great, even at large distances from the cities. To elucidate the difficulties for the management of the fishery resources we have chosen the Gothenburg area on the Swedish west-coast and the Stockholm area on the east-coast as examples. Two coastal areas with some basic similarities but also great differences. 2. The cities and the urban areas Gothenburg and the County of Västra Götland Gothenburg was founded on the initiative of the king Gustav II Adolf in 1619 at the river mouth of Göta älv. However, not until the area around Gothenburg became Swedish territory in the middle of 17th century, Gothenburg became an economical, administrative and economic center with strategic importance for the whole western Sweden. The port became important for the trade of especially iron and wooden goods. Another boom occurred after the East-Indian Company was founded in 1731. During the herring period from about 1750 until 1809 Gothenburg became the most important center for the herring trade. Later on Gothenburg also became a very important industrial center with many mechanical industries and shipyards. It is the seat of the County Board for Västra Götaland County. The Gothenburg Municipality has got more than 400 000 inhabitants. Together with the 49 Municipalities in Västra Götaland the population size is around 1.5 million inhabitants. The archipelago area is situated within four Municipalities; Gothenburg, Öckerö, Kungälv and Kungsbacka. The coast and some of the comparatively few islands have a large population of permanent residents. Many of the inhabitants are commuters to Gothenburg where they work. Ferries give good connections to Gothenburg. There is an increasing population with both permanent residents and a large population with leisure houses in the archipelago. Fishing and shipping is still of a great importance. Stockholm and the County of Stockholm Already in the 13th century there were inhabitants on the island at the outlet of the large lake Mälaren into the Baltic. The oldest documents where the city is mentioned are from July 1252 when Birger Jarl established Stockholm as an administrative center. Stockholm is since that time the capital of Sweden with the Government and Parliament residing in the city. The number of inhabitants increased slowly until 17th century. During that century the population size increased from 6 000 to 60 000. In the 19th century the population size increased from 100 000 in 1860 to 364 000 in 1915. The Municipality of to-day has got 750 000 inhabitants. Including the surrounding Municipalities the Great Stockholm has nowadays 1 150 000 inhabitants. The population density is 280 ind. km-2 as compared to 21 ind.km-2 for the whole country. The Stockholm County consists of 26 Municipalities of which many are situated along the coast. The archipelago consists of 30 000 islands and skerries and is a very big asset for the population in Stockholm as recreation areas. The archipelago is very variable with an inner archipelago with a large permanent residential population. In the middle archipelago there are a lot of islands covered by forest and finally the outer archipelago 3 with lots of barren islands. The population of the inner archipelago is usually commuters to Stockholm area. There are more than 11 000 permanent residents mostly in the inner and middle archipelagos. There are more than 30 000 families with leisure houses and about 100 000 owners of leisure boats. There are a good public transportation systems to some of the islands. Nearly 4 000 of the permanent residents on the islands are employed in the archipelago, only about 50 in the commercial fishery. 3. The administrative units of the coastal zones There are two important administrative levels of the areas, the County and the Municipality. The County Board is the regional government and has got the overall functions for the planning but also for the management of some environmental issues that concerns fish resources and the fishery. In the County Board there are departments among other things for the environment, the fishery, the commercial development, and the administration.