Country: Norway
Svein Jentoft is a sociologist and a professor at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø, Norway. Throughout his long career his work has been focused on social and political issues in fisheries in his native country and around the world. Svein has written extensively on small-scale fisheries, coastal communities, co-management, indigenous peoples, and interactive governance, and has published 25 books, numerous book chapters, research- and popular articles. He has recently published an article implementation of the international voluntary guidelines for small-scale fisheries.
We asked Svein a couple of questions about his work and this is what he had to say:
What are you currently working on within the context of SSF?
SJ: My time right now is concentrated on finishing an edited volume on small-scale fisheries governance together with prof. Ratana Chuenpagdee. The book will have more than 35 articles based on case studies from around the world, all written by the TBTI members. Very exciting! We hope it will be ready to be lunched at Mare conference in June 2015. Besides the book, I am also very enthusiastic about the new SSF-guidelines, which I have followed from the beginning and been involved in developing, as can be seen from my recent article in Maritime Studies.
Q: Once the countries start implementing the SSF-Guidelines, what kind of impact do you hope to see this will have on small-scale fisheries?
SJ: In my judgement, the SSF-guidelines is the best that has happened to small-scale fisheries - besides TBTI that is. It is rather amazing to see what all the countries have agreed to. One can only hope that FAO member states will follow up what they have endorsed and implement them effectively, as they talk about issues that need urgent attention by governments and civil society. As TBTI members we should follow the implementation process and remind our governments of what they have signed up for if they should forget about them. They are also a marching order for us within the research community. Our research proposals will be stronger if we draw on them.
