FOLK MANAGEMENT AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE - LOBSTER FISHING AND TOURISM AT CAYE CAULKER, BELIZE

Fishers from Caye Caulker, Belize, practice a territorial folk managem ent system, which has contributed to level production of lobsters for over 30 years. This, in association with cooperative organization, has brought high economic returns to fishers. Tourism development on the caye has created a new market for lobsters, which has motivated some f ishers to harvest undersized, prereproductive lobsters to sell to loca l restaurants. Data from interviews and observations suggest that this local system of resource management may be threatened because of a fo cal market for lobsters which has emerged with the growth of tourism a t Caye Caulker. These unsustainable practices, coupled with an underfu nded, understaffed, and in the fishers' experience, usually uncooperat ive Fisheries Department makes enforcement of state-level fisheries la ws next to impossible. Caye Caulker fishers face challenging questions concerning how they will practice in and perceive the fishery, which includes participation with and perception of Belize's Fishery Departm ent. Can their local adaptations prove resilient and sustainable in th is rapidly changing socioeconomic environment?