| Summary: | Fisheries are often referred to as a common pool resource (CPR) in which exclusion is difficult
and resource use involves subtractability. In the estuary of the Patos Lagoon, Southern Brazil,
artisanal fisheries management has faced a crisis which brought forth a co-management regime,
represented by a Forum, to manage fisheries CPRs. The objectives of the thesis were to analyse
the implementation of the Forum arrangement and to recommend ways to strengthen the comanagement
process. The analysis centred on the evaluation of the process of decision making
for joint use; the role of science and local knowledge in institutional learning; and the
congruence between environmental institutions and the conservation of fisheries CPRs. Methods
of investigation involved literature review, document analysis, open-ended interviews, closed-ended
survey, and participation at the Forum meetings. The Forum represents a move towards a
sharing of responsibility and authority on local fisheries management supported by government
decentralisation policy. Different stakeholders are now locally involved in the governance of
artisanal fisheries in the region. However, the devolution of power to fisher communities is still
hampered by the weak involvement of fishers in the Forum and by external influences at
government levels. The creation of the Forum has attempted to minimise the problem of fit
between institutions and resource conditions. Mismatches still persist, particularly in the
definition of access boundaries to resource use, in the design of harvest practices adapted to
environmental characteristics, and in the lack of a broader systemic approach to fisheries
management. In this context, this study proposes a larger role for fishers knowledge in the comanagement
regime, given its potential contribution to the design of sustainable fishing
practices for the region. Accomplishments were observed. The Forum has had important
outcomes and gained legitimacy. Small-scale fisheries management has become a more
transparent process in which management rights have become explicit and openly discussed. The Forum represents a transition in resource management paradigms towards one that is more
participatory, in tune with the functions of ecosystems and based on social mechanisms that
facilitate the exchange of knowledge and information necessary to build a resilient socialecological
system. === Science, Faculty of === Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for === Graduate
|
|---|
