FROM THE BOTTOM UP - PARTICIPATORY ISSUES IN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

''Co-management'' is among several slogans used to indicate a dissatis faction with present systems and a movement to more decentralized syst ems of marine resource management. The authors note the necessary dist inction between decentralization and participatory management and use comparative analyses of case studies of fisheries management systems i n Scandinavian and North American countries and New Zealand to explore potentials for both decentralization and delegation of authority in f isheries management. The article focuses on issues of representation, domain, and communication in the design of fisheries management system s. It notes the value of the concept of subsidiarity, recently adopted in the process of European integration, and raises the question of so urces of more ''communicative rationality'' in the social and politica l processes surrounding fisheries management.