Fjordguides in west coast Sweden: An empirical study of a blue public-private partnership

• The “blue economy” is a new governance buzzword. Public and private actors view coasts as offering sustainable development potential. Coastal tourism is a growing sector of the EU Blue Economy and Sweden views coastal fisheries tourism as a growth area. In Sweden’s “action plan” for fisheries tourism, the sector contributes to implementing the ecosystem approach while also making Sweden’s food industry competitive. We investigate a west Sweden fisheries tourism initiative called “fjord guides” supported by the EU rural development fund and coastal municipalities which is part of a national pilot project for implementing the ecosystem approach in Swedish fisheries and marine management. We examine the ‘fjord guides’ as types of ‘ecopreneurs’ tasked with contributing to national goals for sustainability, asking how public officials and the ‘ecopreneurs’ themselves appraise the guides’ contribution to improving social and marine conditions. Through interviews, we seek to understand what informs this partnership and how stakeholders negotiate and define the role of fisheries tourism in marine sustainable development, which to-date is a debate filled with murky and disparate evidence. This study offers an empirical contribution to scrutinizing blue public-private partnerships, which are increasingly part of environmental governance and are seen as “key” to developing the blue economy.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialantropologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Anthropology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

blue economy

public-private partnerships

fisheries tourism

ecopreneur

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

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