Neither Fish Nor Fowl: Navigating Motivations for Fisheries Participation and Exit in Sweden

Figures & data

Table 1. Analysis of responses of 299 surveys from a total of 831 fishing license holders in Sweden according to fishing fleet and fishing location of operation.

Fishing fleet/location	West coast	Baltic Sea	West coast and Baltic Sea	Total
Large-scale fisheries	35	16	11	62 (21%)
Small-scale fisheries	52	124	5	181 (60%)
Coastal trawlers	16	39	1	56 (19%)
Total	103 (34%)	179 (60%)	17 (6%)	299

Figure 1. Survey respondents that have exited, are considering exit or are remaining in fisheries according to fishing fleet (a) and fishing location (b) in Sweden.

Table 2. Reasons selected from a list of given alternatives for having exited or considering fisheries exit among Swedish holders of a commercial fishing license by fishing fleet (LSF: large-scale fisheries; SSF: small-scale fisheries; CT: coastal trawlers).

Reasons	Have exited				Considering exit
Fishing fleet	LSF (n = 3)	SSF (n = 6)	CT (n = 4)	Total (n = 13)	LSF (n = 32)	SSF (n = 119)	CT (n = 34)	Total (n = 185)
State of fish stocks	0%	0%	0%	0%	6%	11%	14%	10%
Access to fish stocks	0%	13%	0%	8%	6%	14%	5%	13%
A market for fish that prioritizes quantity	0%	13%	0%	8%	7%	8%	11%	7%
Government regulations (including licenses, fish marketing and effort/gear restrictions)	25%	27%	0%	21%	15%	16%	18%	16%
Need to buy fishing rights	0%	13%	20%	13%	15%	4%	7%	6%
Environmental movements and policies	25%	7%	40%	17%	28%	15%	16%	17%
Seal populations	50%	27%	40%	33%	23%	32%	29%	31%

Table 3. Reasons selected from a list of given alternatives for having exited or considering fisheries exit among Swedish holders of a commercial fishing license by fishing location.

Reasons	Have exited* (n = 13)		Considering exit (n = 185)
Location	West coast (n = 4)	Baltic Sea (n = 9)	West coast (n = 50)	Baltic Sea (n = 128)	West coast and Baltic Sea (n = 7)
State of fish stocks	0%	0%	1%	12%	19%
Access to fish stocks	13%	6%	4%	15%	13%
A market for fish that prioritizes quantity	13%	6%	11%	7%	0%
Government regulations (including licenses, fish marketing and effort/gear restrictions)	25%	19%	23%	14%	6%
Need to buy fishing rights	25%	6%	13%	5%	0%
Environmental movements and policies	13%	19%	31%	13%	25%
Seals population	13%	44%	17%	34%	37%

None of the fishers that have exited fishing operated in both the West coast and the Baltic Sea.

Table 4. Additional reasons (respondent provided) for considering fisheries exit among Swedish holders of a commercial fishing license by fishing fleet (LSF: large-scale fisheries; SSF: small-scale fisheries; CT: coastal trawlers) and fishing location.

Additional reasons	Fishing fleet			Fishing location			Total (n = 91)
	LSF (n = 14)	SSF (n = 63)	CT (n = 14)	West coast (n = 24)	Baltic Sea (n = 61)	West coast and Baltic Sea (n = 6)
Advanced age	31%	27%	40%	42%	27%	0%	30%
Performance of fishing agency	15%	24%	0%	13%	18%	50%	18%
Cormorants	8%	20%	20%	13%	22%	0%	18%
Excessive controls, payments, paperwork, reporting, etc.	31%	15%	20%	25%	13%	50%	18%
Other	15%	15%	20%	8%	20%	0%	16%

Voluntarily-supplied reasons for fisheries exit among holders of a commercial fishing license in sweden.

Reason (voluntarily supplied)	Fishing fleet*	Fishing area
Corruption of the fisheries authorities	CT	Baltic Sea
Sickness	CT	West coast
Catastrophic fisheries policies	CT	West coast
The terrible EU Common Fisheries Policy	SSF	Baltic Sea
The ban on driftnet fisheries	LSF	Baltic Sea
Weighing of fish, profitability, quotas, authorities	LSF	West coast

*LSF: large-scale fisheries; SSF: small-scale fisheries; CT: coastal trawler.