Coastal Resource Management: Institutions and Conflict Avoidance

Abstract

"This study is investigating the potential for sustainable development of the coastal zone through sectoral integration. A fundamental part of this investigation involves the examination of policies and attitudes which govern the exploitation of the resource, from local to international levels. One case study examines these factors as they relate to one specific coastal area. The second looks at one specific species of fish, the Atlantic Salmon.

"This fish has previously been exploited at every opportunity from its feeding grounds to the spawning rivers. Mounting pressures have in recent years caused many fisheries to cease to intercept these migratory fish. In Ireland the practice continues and it is now the Irish home drift net fishery which presents the biggest obstacle to returning fish. This fishery receives significant indirect funding from sources including the EC. Other less obvious factors which adversely affect the species such as water pollution and sedimentation arise as a result of land based developments in industry, agriculture and urban development -- often financially assisted by the EU. It is this kind of conflict which this study is identifying with the aim of finding means by which they may be resolved."