Fishing rights discourses in Norway: Indigenous Versus Non-indigenous Voices1

• Main Author: Siri Ulfsdatter Søreng
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Norway; sami
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.470.4657; http://www.marecentre.nl/mast/documents/Mast2008_Vol6_2_Sorreng.pdf

Abstract Who is and who should be entitled to fishing rights? This is an impor-tant question in global fisheries management discourses. Privatisation of fishing rights together with an increased emphasis on indigenous rights, are among the most important factors that have put rights on the agenda. This paper reports on a dispute on indigenous rights that appeared in the Norwegian media in 2006 be-tween Sami and non-Sami small-scale fishing interests. Both interests groups are struggling to regain fishing rights lost due to recently introduced resource man-agement schemes, with the goal of securing the future of small-scale fisheries and coastal and fjord settlements. Despite sharing some of the same objectives, disputes in the media seem to have driven them apart. Why did this happen, and what can be done to prevent further separation and perhaps repair the rift?