Contemporary fisher images: Ideologies, policies and diversity

This paper presents survey results that document heterogeneity among contemporary Norwegian fishers and discusses the implications of such heterogeneity upon fisheries policies in general and recruitment policies in particular. With the help of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and fishers' discourses related to management and technology, a fisher typology is produced. This approach yields four types of fishers. Two types of fishers are closely linked to ideology and form a basis for modern fisheries management. The other two are not ideological figures, but more pragmatic, and deviate from the assumptions usually found in fisheries management. As governing is difficult without images, an ontological understanding of the fisher is necessary. Thus, our image of the fisher has to be revised and fisheries policies have to take into account the presence of a number of adaptations and rationalities; hence, a more diverse recruitment policy is called for.