Hastings is one of Britain's oldest fishing ports, situated on the southeast coast of England. The community governance element of the GIFS research project sought to gain an insight into how the fishing community in Hastings affect and interact with policy-making/shaping and key decision-makers at multiple scales of governance (locally, nationally and Europe wide).

The Hastings case study provided a useful insight into how the GIFS methods can be applied in practice to valuing the multiple benefits that arise from our inshore fishing fleets. Involving local fishers in research supports a more inclusive data collection approach and a more locally informed data set, as well as enabling a positive knowledge exchange between the different parties to improve future monitoring and marine/ coastal planning.

The Hastings Governance report details the results of the research into governance undertaken by the GIFS research project. These findings and the methodology approach used in this case study can also be found in the toolkit and interactive map.

This activity was led by the University of Brighton.

Figure: Hastings (Source: GIFS Media gallery)