There has been increasing interest amongst researchers and policymakers in the potential for co-management to sustainably manage fisheries. However, the complexity, diversity and dynamic nature of fisheries systems present several challenges to those wishing to develop co-management systems.

Co-management refers to a system where several different groups are involved in management decision-making. The UK Department for International Development’s Fisheries Management Science Programme (FMSP) has commissioned research into fisheries co-management in Africa and Asia for 11 years. This research has produced a range of tools and methodologies to support successful co-management. These relate to the challenges of planning, implementing and evaluating co-management at local scales. Together with policy implications for successful co-management, these tools and methodologies have been synthesised by the FMSP and made available through a series of documents.

Key aspects of the FMSP documents include:

• Frameworks for identifying, developing and implementing management experiments and data collection systems in collaboration with fishers. These frameworks generate information to inform management decisions.
• Tools for building communications networks and enhancing the sharing of information between researchers, fishers, policymakers and extension staff. These tools enable stakeholders to access better information for management decision-making.
• Frameworks for evaluating the outcomes of co-management and co-management processes.

Co-management systems, and the roles and responsibilities assumed by different stakeholders, are context specific. This means that the tools, performance indicators and management actions required will differ between fisheries, and even within the same fisheries over time. Co-management arrangements must therefore be flexible and adaptive: managers should be able to modify their plans during implementation and learn from management outcomes.   

A series of lessons have been learned through the FMSP research, specifically on designing, implementing and evaluating local co-management plans. Perhaps the most important issue is how co-management tools and methods are used in different situations. Successful co-management requires:

• a real commitment to identifying and building on the existing strengths of fisheries systems
• transparency amongst stakeholders about the management process
• fair distribution of the costs and benefits of co-management
• creating shared authority as well as shared responsibility.

Other useful lessons from the research include:

• Shared decision-making is central to co-management: all stakeholders must have access to relevant information in a useable form for decision-making to be well informed and fair. This includes local knowledge and information about the social, economic and biological aspects of fisheries.
• Many fisheries systems lack an ‘enabling framework’ to support co-management. For example, there is no legal recognition of co-management arrangements.
• There are no cross-sectoral policies or support for co-management capacity development, monitoring or enforcement. This can constrain the development of co-management arrangements.

Source(s):
‘Fisheries co-management: A synthesis of the lessons learned from the DFID Fisheries Management Science Programme’, MRAG Ltd: London, by Robert Arthur, 2005

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK (Project R8470)

id21 Research Highlight: 11 May 2006

Further Information:
Robert Arthur
MRAG Ltd
18 Queen Street
London W1J 5PN
UK

Tel: +44 207 255 7786
Fax: +44 207 499 5388
Contact the contributor: r.arthur@mrag.co.uk

Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG), UK

Other related links:
Fisheries Management Science Programme (FMSP)

The Adaptive Learning website

'Adaptive learning: a new approach to natural resources management'

'Addressing challenges in co-management information systems'

See id21's links for Fisheries