Paper short abstract:

The Baltic Sea is currently in a state of ecological crisis due to overfishing, climate change, and pollution. Focusing on the coast of Poland, this paper examines knowledge production, contestation, and governance among coastal fishers, marine scientists, and policymakers.

Paper long abstract:

This paper addresses knowledge production, contestation, and governance.

Focusing on the Baltic coast of Poland, I consider tensions among coastal fishers, marine scientists, and national and European Union policymakers. Other studies stress the great range of views among different groups of fishers, including those engaged in large scale industrial fishing, small and mid-scale, and recreational fishing (Boucquey 2020).

The Baltic Sea is currently in a state of ecological crisis due to overfishing, climate change, and pollution. Key fish stocks are on the verge of collapse, prompting international NGOs to call for closures of cod and herring fisheries. Small scale fishers from the Baltic have accused the European Commission of gross mismanagement by allowing large trawlers to continue to fish herring and sprat—the main sources of food for Baltic cod. Some Polish fishermen describe starving cod as “floating bones with skin” (“Rybacy arlarmują” 2018). In October 2020 the European Council closed the cod fishery in the eastern Baltic Sea, but permitted moderate increases in the western Baltic. These situation and negotiations are complex (“Baltic Sea fishing,” 2020). For example, although cod eat adult herring, herring eat the spawn of cod, complicating efforts to direct and implement policy that achieves the necessary balance to improve the situation. The dire state of the Baltic Sea and dwindling opportunities for those seeking to make a living from its fish stocks exacerbate tensions among groups and increase the stakes regarding knowledge production, dialogue, and legitimacy.