On outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal and marine areas

Abstract

This paper is about outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal and marine areas and is part of a larger PHD project study of Kosterhavet National Park (KNP) - the most recently introduced national park in Sweden. Characteristic for KNP is that about 98 % of the park area consists of marine and coastal environments unique not only to the West Coast of Sweden, but also on a national and even international level. It is Sweden’s first national park with a distinct marine focus and is one of the few marine national parks in Scandinavia, one other being the Norwegian twin National Park ‘Ytre Hvaler’, located just on the other side of the border next to KNP. Both national parks are praised for their stunning marine scenery and unique biophysical world. For this reason both national parks receive a great number of visitors each year, with numbers spiking during the summer months, where the small islands and coastal communities in the national parks receive thousands of day trippers, second homers and recreationists. They all seek the beautiful nature scenery and the tranquility of the marine landscapes and for some visitors the parks also offer new and adventurous activities such as diving, snorkeling and kayaking. For this reason, outdoor recreation (through various activities) is an important, but also dominating factor, in the two national parks, which at times clashes with the also important aspects of protecting and conserving the unique nature and landscapes. However well visited the two national parks are, studies of outdoor recreation in marine and coastal areas are very few, at least in a Swedish research context. Most studies on outdoor recreation in Sweden tend to focus more on inland, or terrestrial, nature areas such as the Swedish mountains (fjällen) or the Swedish forests. As a result, not much knowledge about outdoor recreation in Swedish marine and coastal areas is available: for instance what people do in marine and coastal landscapes, where they do it and why they do it, and how this all relate to the landscape use, are important questions we simply do not much about. For this reason, my PHD project will try and remediate this situation by contributing with new knowledge of outdoor recreation in Swedish marine and coastal areas - with KNP as my case study example. My research goals or aims in the project are threefold: 1) I want to investigate what coastal landscapes/areas people use/prefer and how their activities and recreational experiences relate to different landscapes in the national park 2) I will test and develop new, qualitative and quantitative monitoring methods and techniques to study outdoor recreation in coastal/marine areas. 3) I will discuss existing zoning strategies as well as further needs for zoning, including an analysis and discussion of zoning models as possible useful tools for management In order to investigate all this, however, it is important first take one step back and get acquainted with what there already is to know about outdoor recreation in Swedish marine and coastal areas. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate various official formulations, views and contributions on outdoor recreation in marine and coastal areas (e.g. political statements, research). As such, this paper will not only be an informative part of my PHD research, but it will also bring some much needed light to a research field that has been overlooked, or even neglected, at least in a Swedish research context.