A catch-22 scenario in the Swedish food system : –A scientific examination of cyprinid fishingand its management possibilities in Sweden

Sammanfattning: Cyprinid fish like roach, bream and ide are natural resources in Sweden that were common and consumed in households up to the late 19th century. Due to societal changes during the industrialization cyprinids lost their domestic importance. Today we see an increasing demand for sustainable food sources. Cyprinid fishing has low carbon emissions and may possibly improve water quality in eutrophic waters and could be an interesting additional resource to the Swedish food supply chain. Cyprinid fish need to be managed in a sustainable way that will ensure long-term sustainability for the cyprinid stocks and complies with environmental goals and the Swedish Food Strategy goals of increasing domestic food production. In this thesis I have used catch reports and environmental data to estimate how much bream can be fished in the Swedish part of the Baltic Sea. I have participated in meetings with stakeholders in an ongoing project to increase cyprinid fishing in the Baltic Sea, conducted interviews with fishers active in the Bothnian bay and created self-completion questionnaire for employees at authorities working with cyprinid management. Through Thematic Analysis, Stakeholder Identification and with the use of the literature available I made a SWOT-analysis of the cyprinid fisheries in Sweden and discussed possible management scenarios for cyprinid fishing in Sweden. The results indicate that bream fishing in the Baltic Sea can increase to between 1894 - 13 637 tons. A possible way to manage cyprinid fisheries is to allow fishers to self-regulate or have fish-producing companies involved in management by having contracts with fishers. I also argue that viewing cyprinid fishing as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) would allow better understanding of how to manage the resource. This paper implies that cyprinid fishing can increase in the Baltic Sea and that viewing cyprinid fishing as a Complex Adaptive System would supply managers with more tools and possibly make management more effective.