Jls. Devivero et al., DECENTRALIZATION, REGIONALIZATION AND COMANAGEMENT - A CRITICAL-VIEW ON THE VIABILITY OF THE ALTERNATIVE MANAGEMENT MODELS FOR FISHERIES INSPAIN, Marine policy, 21(3), 1997, pp. 197-206
From the recession that marked the 1980s onward, the search for the fi
shing sector has been one of the main aims of the forces in charge of
devising and settling the guidelines for fishing industry development.
Among the different choices that may be presented (centralized, devol
ved management, self-management of fishing communities, etc), co-manag
ement--understood as strong cooperation between the different particip
ants of the fishing industry--is seen as one of the most favoured and
practicable options. However, acting as a counterbalances to the advan
tages offered by co-management system, there mare many problems that m
ake its implementation difficult: the inflexibility of the civil admin
istration system, the lack of cohesion between fishermen's organizatio
ns, the unreliability of statistics about the fishing sector, and the
lack of channels of communication between the different authorities in
charge of the management of the sector. This article will analyse the
particular instance of Spain, where the fishing sector is marked by d
iversity, and where fishing co-management stands as an alternative for
the territories that are dependent on this industry. (C) 1997 Elsevie
r Science Ltd.