DECENTRALIZATION, REGIONALIZATION AND COMANAGEMENT - A CRITICAL-VIEW ON THE VIABILITY OF THE ALTERNATIVE MANAGEMENT MODELS FOR FISHERIES INSPAIN

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.