COOPERATIVE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT INVOLVING FIRST-NATIONS IN BRITISH-COLUMBIA - AN ADAPTIVE APPROACH TO STRATEGY DESIGN

In 1991, a substantial program of cooperative salmon fishery managemen t involving First Nations was initiated in British Columbia. This pape r considers how ongoing cooperative management initiatives in this fis hery could be designed and implemented. The process discussed in the p aper could be viewed as an adaptive management experiment in instituti onal design for cooperative management. First, sets of fundamental obj ectives for cooperative management and strategies for achieving these objectives are developed. The methods for structuring objectives and d eveloping strategies are drawn from decision analysis practice. Then t he actual experience in implementing a Version of one of the strategie s during the 1992 Fraser River sockeye salmon First Nations fishery is discussed. The highly publicized and controversial events of the 1992 season are instructive about how cooperative management should be imp lemented in other contexts.