Modern Compliance Policies in Fisheries

Successful fisheries management relies on compliance. Compliance in turn relies on the perceived legitimacy of the existing rules and regulations, the effectiveness of enforcement, and on the positive feedback loop between legitimacy and effectiveness. Against the backdrop of increasing incentives to violate rules and regulations in modern fisheries, there is a widespread view that traditional control policies are no longer effective in guaranteeing sustainable fisheries management. This paper presents evidence from large-scale survey among Norwegian fishers, showing that expectations about and experiences of control activities affect compliance behavior. Moreover survey respondents have a mixed attitude towards modern compliance policies based on remote sensing and open data, while appreciating competent fisheries inspectors. Thus, modern compliance policies are a promising complement, but no substitute, to physical inspections.