Short food supply chains and producer-consumer reconnection : achieving sustainable territorial development in the fisheries sector

Abstract

This thesis concerns the formation of short food supply chains (SFSCs) and the achievement of sustainable territorial development in the fisheries sector. Coastal fishing communities across Europe face significant social and structural changes that have led to a continued decline in income and challenges for social renewal within the sector. This disruption has exacerbated a perceived disconnect or lack of interaction between the sector and the wider local community and business development context: fisheries are now largely seen as national sectors producing commodities for wide-ranging and often distant markets. This research explores the factors associated with the formation of fisheries SFSCs, drawing on a novel fsQCA study of Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) areas in the UK and EU, quantitative data obtained from a survey of fisheries producers across Europe and their willingness to participate in SFSCs, and experimental research into consumer perceptions and purchase intentions with regard to locally produced seafood. The project is contextualised within, and contributes to, the broader theory and practice of SFSCs as well as theories of social capital and the integration of sectoral and territorial (place-based) approaches to local development. It contributes to the growing literature on SFSCs and their contribution to local development initiatives, the re-localisation of food, and the reconnection of coastal communities with the fishing sector.