First Danish stakeholder engagement activities

The SAF application was initiated in response to outcries from Danish coastal fishermen regarding disappearance of commercial fish species from coastal waters. The SAF science team initially engaged stakeholders at meetings with fishermen organisations and fisheries managers to identify the problem. From these first activities of stakeholder engagement it became apparent more formal data of the spatial and temporal elements of the problem were required. An interview-based survey was conducted in 2014, including interviews of 74 coastal fishermen from 30 Danish harbours. Cod (and plaice) were identified as by fishermen to be the two predominantly moving offshore. This offshore movement was identified to be in the northwest directing in the North Sea and in a northern direction in the Kattegat (see map below, far right). These results guided the SAF process and aided in scaling of the Policy Issue “declining cod stocks in inner Danish coastal waters”.