Fisheries co-management—an institutional innovation? Lessons from South East Asia and Southern Africa

During the last decade the co-management concept has gained increasing acceptance as a potential way forward to improve fisheries management performance. It has, however, at the same time become increasingly evident that the co-management concept is not clearly defined and means very different things to different people. In this article, we attempt to document experience available from a recent study on fisheries co-management that has researched case studies of various implementations of co-management arrangements in coastal and freshwater fisheries in South East Asia and Southern Africa, and to present a more comprehensive understanding of co-management and to summarise the experiences with both the positive outcomes and the problems in actual implementation

Multiple drivers of local (non-) compliance in community-cased marine resource management: case studies from the South Pacific

The outcomes of marine conservation and related management interventions depend to a large extent on people's compliance with these rule systems. In the South Pacific, community-based marine resource management (CBMRM) has gained wide recognition as a strategy for the sustainable management of marine resources. In current practice, CBMRM initiatives often build upon customary forms of marine governance, integrating scientific advice and management principles in collaboration with external partners. However, diverse socio-economic developments as well as limited legal mandates can challenge these approaches. Compliance with and effective (legally-backed) enforcement of local management strategies constitute a growing challenge for communities—often resulting in considerable impact on the success or failure of CBMRM. Marine management arrangements are highly dynamic over time, and similarly compliance with rule systems tends to change depending on context. Understanding the factors contributing to (non-) compliance in a given setting is key to the design and function of adaptive management approaches. Yet, few empirical studies have looked in depth into the dynamics around local (non-) compliance with local marine tenure rules under the transforming management arrangements. Using two case studies from Solomon Islands and Fiji, we investigate what drives local (non-) compliance with CBMRM and what hinders or supports its effective enforcement. The case studies reveal that non-compliance is mainly driven by: (1) diminishing perceived legitimacy of local rules and rule-makers; (2) increased incentives to break rules due to market access and/ or lack of alternative income; and (3) relatively weak enforcement of local rules (i.e., low perceptions of risk from sanctions for rule-breaking). These drivers do not stand alone but can act together and add up to impair effective management. We further analyze how enforcement of CBMRM is challenged through a range of institutional; socio-cultural and technical/financial constraints, which are in parts a result of the dynamism and ongoing transformations of management arrangements. Our study underlines the importance of better understanding and contextualizing marine resource management processes under dynamic conditions for an improved understanding of compliance in a particular setting

Fisheries co-management: a comparative analysis

The paper is based on a review of 22 case studies on fisheries co-management in small-scale, semi-industrial and industrial fisheries in developing and developed countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and the Pacific. Case studies are classified according to a typology of co-management arrangements. The typology is based on the nature of the decision-making arrangements between governments and users. Decision-making arrangements refer to the roles of governments and user groups, the management tasks and the stages in the management process. Eleven case studies are analysed in detail. The analysis shows that co-management covers a wide variety of collaborative arrangements between governments and users. On the basis of the information from these case studies, a number of observations are made concerning the determinants of the type of co-management regime in place. Determinants include the capabilities and aspirations of user groups, the type of approach, the difficulty of the decision to be taken, the type of management tasks, the stage in the management process, boundaries, types of user groups and political culture and social norms. The paper concludes with the issues that require further research.

Conditions for successful co-management: lessons learned in Asia, Africa, the Pacific and the Wider Caribbean

The key conditions for the successful implementation and performance and the policy implications for fisheries and coastal co-management in South East Asia, Africa, the Pacific and Caribbean region are presented

Implementing balanced harvesting: practical challenges and other implications

Balanced harvesting (BH) has been proposed as an alternative to the paradigm of more selective fishing as practiced in most European and North American fisheries management. We examine options for the implementation of BH and evaluate the issues raised in such an implementation. Implementation is considered at the whole ecosystem level, in terms of the patterns of removal for all species, both commercial and bycatch. We suggest that a "laissez-faire" approach analogous to the African lakes where BH was first observed is inappropriate in managed developed world fisheries. We consider two further approaches: focusing on either the species caught or on the sizes of animal alone. We find that aiming to harvest all species with an exploitation rate appropriate to their productivity would require a degree of micro-management that is probably unachievable, with all captured species "choking" the fishery in sequence. The size-based approach works with an exploitation rate appropriate to the productivity at size, with no consideration of the species involved. This might superficially be easier to implement, as management would involve a limited number of size classes only. However, problems may arise due to the likely faster capture of the more easily catchable fish, and also likely targeting of the more valuable species within a size class. We identify a possible third option of "broad brush" metier-based management that may resolve some of these problems. Other issues include the management of protected, endangered, and threatened species (including mammals, reptiles, and birds), the management of already severely depleted stocks, and the capture of benthic invertebrates

Objectives of fisheries management: case studies from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark

The main objectives of fisheries management are generally similar throughout the world. These are often stated in policy documents such as the Common Fisheries Policy and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. However, at the local level often the key objectives of management are more detailed, characterised by both the overriding management structure and the status and type of fishery concerned. In this paper, we consider case study fisheries from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark to compare some of the various types of fisheries and fisheries management systems that exist in the European Union. From this, we define the key objectives for each management system.Objectives Fisheries management Common fisheries policy