Environmental and socio-political shocks to the seafood sector: What does this mean for resilience? Lessons from two UK case studies, 1945-2016

Abstract

Fisheries products are globally traded commodities, which have led to varying degrees of social and economic dependency for producing regions. These dependencies become more evident at times of major demand or supply shocks. Resilience to such shocks is intertwined with, and rooted in, the intra-sectoral structure and governance frameworks. This work analyses two large-scale, capital-intensive and export-oriented seafood sectors: Atlantic salmon and North-east Atlantic mackerel, responded to the environmental, economic and geopolitical shocks accompanying their development, from a UK perspective. Intra-firm controls are identified as elements, which have delivered resilience and strength in these two sectors. This work highlights the central, yet different role of the UK government in increasing their resilience and underlying producing regions. Our work contributes to the broader context of regional development and changing global food demand identifying both domestic and external threats to sustainability. Our approach aims to expand the debate around seafood production from ‘food security’ to a transdisciplinary analysis, which incorporates wider economic, social, and ecological sustainability aspects.