Home | Contact Us | Marine Station
Community - University Research for Recovery Alliance
 
About Us Collaborative Research Community Engagement Arts & Culture Publications & Resources Links
 





About the presenters

Anna Karlsdóttir is Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator in Geography and Tourism Studies, University of Iceland. Her research interests include the effects of globalization on fishery community transitions in the North Atlantic region, particularly in Iceland. She also studies the gendered division of labour in rural areas and small coastal communities.

Karl Benediktsson is Professor of Human Geography. His research interests include rural and regional development, mobility issues, conservation and politics of nature, and landscape phenomenology. Publications include the books Harvesting Development (2002) and Conversations with Landscape (co-editor, 2010), as well as papers in several scholarly journals.
Thanks for all the fish? Resource management and regional development in post-crash Iceland

June 21, 2011


Get the Flash Player to see this video.


Internet presentation and discussion with Anna Karlsdóttir and Karl Benediktsson, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, University of Iceland. Presented on June 21, 2011 in the Science Building of Memorial University St. John's campus.

Watching this video in full-screen mode is recommended.

Description

The fishery resource is once again at the centre of Icelandic politics. The country is searching for a more equitable and sustainable model of resource development to replace the model that culminated in the spectacular bank crash in late 2008.

The presenters first outline the neoliberal economic transformation that took place in Iceland in the 1990s and 2000s. They pay special attention to the contribution of Iceland's ITQ fisheries management system to the financial bubble economy that came to dominate Iceland in the new millennium. The regional implications of the ITQ system are also be discussed.

The second part of the presentation focuses on political and regional developments since late 2008 including ongoing attempts by the current government to reform the fisheries management system. Among other things, these attempts have included the re-establishment of open-access coastal fishing and the gradual recall of ITQs by the state. At the heart of the often heated debates about fisheries management are questions related to resource rent and social justice.

The presentation concludes with a discussion of future issues. Among the Icelandic public, there is a shared conviction that many aspects of Iceland's economic and political life need to be greatly altered. Some changes are already underway including the rewriting of the country's constitution but, in some respects, radical change seems unlikely.

Materials

Iceland: crisis and regional development - Thanks for all the fish?

Article by Karl Benediktsson and Anna Karlsdóttir. Published in European Urban and Regional Studies, April 2011. Volume 18, Number 2, pages 228-235.

Iceland fishing reform debate hots up

Article published in Fish Update. May 30, 2011.