Incentives for compliance behaviour - lessons from Danish fisheries -

This paper presents the results of a research project, which focuses on Danish fishers’ acceptance of imposed fisheries regulations and their respect for the management system. The analytical framework developed by Raakjær Nielsen (1998) and Raakjær Nielsen and Vedsmand (1999) has been applied. The research focuses on three Danish fisheries: the cod fishery in the Baltic Sea, the demersal and Nephrops fishery in Kattegat and the protein fishery in the North Sea. The research is based on interviews with 56 fishers and a mail based questionnaire survey covering all vessels (skippers) in the three selected fisheries. Furthermore, interviews have been conducted with enforcement agents and officials of the Directorate of Fisheries. The following factors are concluded to have a major impact on compliance in fisheries: 1) the economic gains to be obtained from non-compliance; 2) the risk of being detected and the severity of the sanction; 3) the compatibility between regulations and the practice and patterns of fishing; 4) perception that regulations conserve fish stocks; 5) the actual and expected behaviour of other fishers and the moral of the individual, 6) finally there is indication, that management procedures, including co-management and enforcement procedures, has an impact on the incentives to comply with the regulations.