| Summary: | This thesis utilises a novel methodology to inform placement of marine protected areas in the Faroe Islands, which are already used in Faroese demersal fisheries management. The methodological approach builds upon efforts in the field of marine spatial planning to include fishermen in the planning process to reduce fishermen’s costs, increase fishermen’s satisfaction and compliance with Marine Protected Areas, and thereby increase the success of MPAs. A survey was conducted to map Faroese coastal fishermen’s Spatial Access Priorities using GIS, which showed that fishermen generally placed a high SAP on fishing grounds close to land and on cod spawning grounds. A concurrent semi-structured quantitative survey was conducted that focused on fishermen’s opinions on management and MPAs. The Faroese demersal effort quota management system was also analysed and found to have failed to restrict effort of the fleet, causing the cod stock to become severely overexploited and the fleet indebted. A 66% reduction in fleet size is recommended along with improved and expanded use of MPAs to aid the recovery of fish stocks.
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