BaltGene: Deliverables_4

4. Governance structures facing new scientific information

4.1. The capacity of prevailing governance systems to incorporate genetic biodiversity in management policies
Task leader: Annica Sandström

During 2010 textual analysis of legal documents and written policies that concern the internal introduction of hatchery-reared fish in Sweden and Finland has been conducted. The major conclusion from Sweden is that the perceived gap between scientific knowledge and practice can be explained by the characteristics of the governance system, the so called substantial and institutional uncertainties are proposed as the main explanations for the identified gap between science and policy outcome, indicating a lack of adaptability. This means that the lower level bureaucrats who make stocking decisions must navigate within a complex policy
subsystem of multiple actors and policy making institutions, conflicting goals and disparate problem definitions (Sandström / Marine Policy 34, 2010). Preliminary results indicate that this is also the situation in Finland, i.e. there is a need to improve the utilization of scientific knowledge in decision-making and that there are shortcomings in bridging science and policy in the governing system.

Additional, interviews has been conducted with the fishery advisory officials at
the county administration boards in Sweden and with officials at regional centres for
economic development, transport and the environment in Finland. The interviews were semistructured, using a questionnaire designed for open-ended answers. The respondents were asked questions about fish stocking practices, motives behind current practices, beliefs in regards to the matter and how they incorporate and use new knowledge concerning the topic.

The results from Sweden are that there is no single Swedish fish stocking policy; instead, a wide array of different regional policies exists. Thus, the study emphasises the extensive uncertainties concerning the topic of genetic diversity and fish stocking, especially in regards to science, policy and institutional aspects. Is also shows how these uncertainties leave a lot of acting space for lower-level bureaucrats to form policy in accordance with their policy beliefs – with other words, the fishery advisory officials are extremely influential in the policymaking process (Sandström / Marine Policy, 35, 2011). The Finnish interviews are not fully analysed yet but preliminary results indicates that there is also a regional differences in Finland but not to the same extent as in Sweden.

Sandström A. (2010) Institutional and substantial uncertainty—Explaining the lack of adaptability in fish stocking policy. Marine Policy, Volume 34, Issue 6, November 2010, Pages 1357-1365

Sandström A. (2011) Navigating a complex policy system – Explaining local divergences in Swedish fish stocking policy. Marine Policy, Volume 35, Issue 3, May 2011. Pages 419-425..

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