In 2020, the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food launched a new state-led ecolabelling scheme for fish originating from small-scale, ‘low-environmental-impact’ fisheries; “NaturSkånsom”. The label was introduced to a domestic market where the vast majority of the fish landed by Danish vessels was already certified by the global leader in certification of (wild caught) fish products, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). MSC’s high market penetration created a situation where especially small-scale fishers felt that MSC certification had developed into a market norm without providing fishers the benefits of demonstrating extraordinarily sustainable practices and thereby gain competitive advantages. Rather, MSC’s market penetration was perceived as undermining efforts to brand and market fish originating from small-scale fisheries as particularly sustainable. This article explores the processes that led up to the NaturSkånsom labeling scheme by applying a ‘power in planning and policy framework’ as an analytical lens. Through the NaturSkånsom process, the article investigates what happens when an ecolabel becomes a market norm, how small-scale fisheries actors who feel disadvantaged by such a development and environmental organizations form alliances, mobilize support and multiple resources to strengthen their positions in the political settings. The examination of this case highlights how stakeholders traditionally thought of as less resourceful can gain political influence. The article offers a glimpse into a possible, emerging future where those perceiving themselves as the most sustainable producers may increasingly view large and dominating ecolabels simultaneously as obstacles and forces for positive change.

This paper reflects on the effects of eco-certification on small-scale fisheries and the possibilities for including social sustainability considerations in fisheries certification schemes for small-scale fisheries. The paper reviews existing eco-certification schemes and presents empirical data on Danish small-scale fisheries and a new Danish certification scheme. Our findings suggest the universalism most eco-certification schemes build on needs to be critically examined and that the wage worker-centrism that characterizes most work on social sustainability indicators is not universally applicable in all fisheries. Social sustainability criteria need to be continually revised to take sociocultural contexts into account and avoid the unintentional exclusion of certain segments.

The profile of small-scale fisheries has been raised through a dedicated target within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG14b) that calls for the provision of 'access of small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets'. By focusing on access to fisheries resources in the context of European Union, in this article we demonstrate that the potential for small-scale fishing sectors to benefit from fishing opportunities remains low due to different mechanisms at play including legislative gaps in the Common Fisheries Policy, and long-existing local structures somewhat favouring the status quo of distributive injustice. Consequently, those without access to capital and authority are faced by marginalizing allocation systems, impacting the overall resilience of fishing communities. Achieving SDG14b requires an overhaul in the promulgation of policies emanating from the present nested governance systems.

The introduction of a market-based management system of individual, transferable fishing quotas has meant a radical change in Danish fishing, with widespread consequences for the small-scale fleet, fishing practices, strategies, harbours and communities. It has led to a concentration of fishing rights, weakening small-scale fishing and making it hard for new generations of fishers to enter the sector. In this chapter, the authors describe and reflect on the process of privatisation, the consequences, and possible ways forward for small-scale fishing. The chapter also looks at recently introduced fishing policies that strive to address some of the consequences of the privatisation for young fishers and the coastal, small-scale fishing fleet in Denmark.

Through a case study of Soby Brunkulslejer, a former brown coal mining area in Jutland, Denmark, this article focuses on how physical ground is not an inert background on which histories play out but is an active force in shaping ecological and social relations. Due to the particularities of the mining practices and geologic strata, this site-formerly used for agriculture-has become geologically unstable post-mining. Its ground now shifts in unexpected ways via sand drifts, landslides, and liquefaction. This article begins by exploring the social and environmental histories through which these novel forms of instability have emerged. It then examines the effects of these new kinds of geological instability, probing how they have sparked new land use practices and political debates that have, in turn, strongly impacted the area's patterns of biological life. Inspired by historical ecology, the article suggests how one might study the "historical geology" of a postindustrial Danish landscape, where social, geological, and biological relations are co-constitutive of each other. Methodologically, the article draws on ethnographic and archival materials, including interviews and participant observation with government officials, geoscientists, and local residents.

The introduction of vessel-based Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) in Danish demersal fisheries in 2007 caused significant structural changes in the fleet, towards fewer and larger vessels deploying otter trawls. Mainly smaller coastal vessels deploying Danish seines and gillnets reduced in numbers. The ecosystem effects of this structural change were investigated by comparing the sustainability of a local, small-scale, coastal fishery (Thorupstrand) using Danish seines and gillnets with that of demersal trawling by larger vessels using the same fishing grounds. The fisheries were compared using six ecological and socio-economic indicators: 1), discards (food web), 2), by-catch incidences (food web/biodiversity), 3), seabed impacts, 4), fuel use efficiency, 5), quality of fish landed (food provision), and 6), social and cultural gains and drawbacks (social and cultural features). Except for by-catch of vulnerable species, the fisheries using Danish seines and gillnets scored better in all indicators when compared to otter trawls. Additional commercial and cultural benefits of establishing a local fishery guild with share-owned quotas and land-based facilities were investigated. The results and lessons learned are discussed in the context of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management and the current reform of the common fisheries policy of the European Union.