Leader + is a project financed by the European Union to support the development of the
countryside within the Union. In the district of Sjuhärad, several different projects within the
framework of Leader + are carried out. One of these projects is “Marketplace Sjuhärad, fishing
tourism at the natures own conditions”. The aim of this project is to develop the local fishing
tourism, and in that way enhance the employment and income in the region, without damaging
the fishing resource.

This honour thesis is a part of this project and aims to develop suitable and useful criteria for how
fishing tourism can be carried out without damaging the ecosystem.

A survey of available systems for ecological and sustainable fishing has been conducted, both
nationally and internationally. At present there are only a few systems, which are well-founded.
A survey of other available information about fishing and its effect on the ecosystem, and how it
can be reduced, has also been conducted. In this part there are more information, but also this
material lack scientific support.

This paper has resulted in a table whit criteria that deal with a number of questions concerning a
sustainable recreational fishing. The main headlines in this table are: legal issues, social and
economic issues, administrative issues, general environmental effect, effect on the fishing
resource and effect on the rest of the ecosystem.

Concerning the ability to accomplish the criteria some randomly selected fishing organizations
have been contacted and asked about their opinion on the criteria. Generally speaking the greatest
problem for the fishing organizations to fulfil the criteria are lack of resources, both economical
and personnel. To reduce the workload for the fishing organizations I suggest that part of the
administrative work around the criteria is done centrally. For example the reporting of fishing
yield and part of the information about the fishing arrangements could be done through the
homepage of “Marketplace Sjuhärad”.

Karin Sandqvist
January 2005

Read the whole repport about "Criteria for a sustainable fishing tourism in Sjuhärad "
(In Swedish, English summary)

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