The struggle for fish resources

This article discusses problems of economic readjustment facing the peripheral fishery-dependent communes in Norway. The situation in these communes is analyzed using a theory of territorial production systems, focusing in particular on the role played by principal actors in the fishery system. The principal actors' need to defend the prevalent structures of the territorial production system for cultural reasons, is discussed. This defense inhibit important adaptive processes in peripheral industries. In addition the principal actors must defend the socioeconomic systems controlled by the fishing communities in the central parts of Norway if deemed necessary. The principal actors in the periphery thereby stand forward as defenders of the actual centre-periphery structure in the Norwegian fishery system.