Mapping Resilience – Coastal Communities in Iceland Matthias Kokorsch Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Iceland 2018 Mapping Resilience – Coastal Communities in Iceland Matthias Kokorsch Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of a Philosophiae Doctor degree in Geography PhD Committee Professor Karl Benediktsson University of Iceland Dr Anna Karlsdóttir Nordregio–Nordic Centre for Spatial Development / University of Iceland Associate Professor Kevin St Martin Rutgers University Opponents Níels Einarsson Stefansson Arctic Institute Jahn Petter Johnsen The Arctic University of Norway Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences School of Engineering and Natural Sciences University of Iceland Reykjavík, June 2018 Mapping Resilience – Coastal Communities in Iceland Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of a Philosophiae Doctor degree in Geography Copyright © 2018 Matthias Kokorsch All rights reserved Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences School of Engineering and Natural Sciences University of Iceland Askja, Sturlugata 7 101 Reykjavik Iceland Telephone: 525 4000 Bibliographic information: Matthias Kokorsch, 2018, Mapping Resilience – Coastal Communities in Iceland, PhD dissertation, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, 182 pp. Author ORCID: 0000-0003-2220-8323 Printing: Beyrich DigitalService GmbH & Co. KG Braunschweig, Germany, April 2018 Abstract Designing 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. Keywords: Resilience, fisheries management, community development, structural change, Adaptive Co-Management, Iceland Útdráttur Seigla íslenskra sjávarbyggða 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 gerendur. Lykilorð: Seigla, fiskveiðistjórnun, byggðaþróun, atvinnulífsbreytingar, samstjórnun, Ísland To my parents Hans & Hildegard Preface The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: “Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody!” (Rousseau, 1973 [1754], p.84) One does not need to recall Jean Jacques Rousseau to show that the discourse on property rights is an old yet unresolved one. However, these lines exemplify the difficulty one faces when trying to square the circle: finding a way to manage resources that belong to all but yet to no one. This thesis is embedded exactly in this discourse. It is about the consequences of privatising one of the most precious – and thus contested – resources that the ocean around Iceland has to offer. The very first article of the Iceland Fisheries Management Act defines “the exploitable marine stocks of the Icelandic fishing banks [as] the common property of the Icelandic nation“ (Alþingi, 2018). Reality looks very different. Nonetheless, in contrast to Rousseau, I do not think that, just because the imposters weren’t stopped, the people of Iceland are undone. Reclaiming resources and contesting inequality is not at all an impossible task. Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xv List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xvii List of Papers .................................................................................................................. xviii Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xix Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xxi PART ONE: SYNOPSIS 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Theoretical foundations ..........................................................................................