A chance for a paradigm shift in the dichotomy of common-pool resources management and biodiversity protection? The examples of bottom trawling, the Baltic Sea, and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to explore how the law is structured to deal with the dichotomy between biodiversity protection and common-pool resources. To do so, it utilizes bottom trawling as an example of an anthropogenic activity that benefits from the exploitation of the latter but is known to be detrimental to the former. As bottom trawling is a fishing technique, it also examines how fisheries management is influenced by the international and European legal systems and what it means for the protection of biodiversity. This analysis is also timely because the BDS 2030 is being formalized inside the EU and it listed the need to address the effects of bottom trawling. Traditionally, law has used the principle of sovereignty to limit access to common-pool resources, but this thesis will demonstrate that this is not mandatory. Finally, the Baltic Sea is used in an illustrative manner to showcase the broad range of regulatory challenges that surrounds this topic and that there might be a way forward under certain conditions.