Policy failure and stakeholder dissatisfaction in complex ecosystem management: The case of the Dutch Wadden Sea shellfishery

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At the beginning of the 1990s, a combination of a sharp decline in shellfish populations and mass bird mortality in the Dutch Wadden Sea led to a conflict between conservationists and the shellfishery. The conflict gave rise to the establishment of a shellfish management policy in 1993. Although this policy certainly improved upon the old situation, without clear restrictions on fishing effort, the policy has been unable to manage the complex ecosystem satisfactorily. This paper addresses the question of why the conflict was not resolved. At the heart of the problem lie an improperly functioning co-management arrangement and general disagreement about which changes in the management policy should be adopted. In order to understand the fishing industry, the conservationist and the government positions in the co-management arrangement, we analyse what has been the impact of the current shellfish policy on the satisfaction of the objectives of the various stakeholders. We examine whether the implementation of alternative policy scenarios could lead to the establishment of a sustainable shellfishery. The case of the Dutch shellfishery is an important example of an unsustainable management policy. As such, this paper illuminates many of the problems faced by fisheries management regimes worldwide and suggests how some of them could be avoided.