JAKFISH1

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Stakeholder involvement is perceived as an important development in the European Common Fisheries Policy. But how can uncertain fisheries science be linked with good governance processes, thereby increasing fisheries management legitimacy and effectiveness? Reducing the uncertainties around scientific models has long been perceived as the cure of the fisheries management problem. There is however increasing recognition that uncertainty in the numbers will remain. A lack of transparency with respect to these uncertainties can damage the credibility of science. The EU Commission’s proposal for a reformed Common Fisheries Policy calls for more self-management for the fishing industry by increasing fishers’ involvement in the planning and execution of policies and boosting the role of fishers’ organisations. One way of higher transparency and improved participation is to include stakeholders in the modelling process itself. The project Judgement And Knowledge in Fisheries Involving Stakeholders (JAKFISH) was a three-year project consisting of 10 partners from the EU and Norway. It is a distinctive project in that it provides an integrated approach to stakeholder involvement into fisheries management. It aimed to examine and develop the institutions, practices and tools that allow complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity to be dealt with effectively within participatory decision-making processes; to examine how scientific information is used and what types of roles scientists play in the formulation of policies; to study how the current scientific processes take into account the multiobjective nature of fisheries management; and to synthesise the obtained views, redefining the institutional role of science to improve overall governance in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The synthesis of the project is captured in two main synthesis documents: 1. Analyses of the lessons from participatory modelling studies 2. Policy brief on institutions, practices and tools to address complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity in participatory fisheries management. RRI FOCUS Public Engagement Gender Equality Science Education Open Access Ethics Governance LESSONS LEARNED POLICY RELATED LESSONS LEARNED Main policy briefs produced by the project and related URL Policy brief 1 Policy brief 2 Policy brief 3 Policy brief 4 Policy brief 5

JAKFISH Duration 2008-2011 Fundings framework FP7 Keyword(s) Participatory research; Participatory modelling; fisheries; fisheries management; governance; stakeholders; engagement; advisory councils; fishermen; uncertainty; stock assessment