Can formalisation help? The introduction of fisheries co-management in theinshore fisheries of Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Fisheries co-management is claimed to increase the legitimacy of regulation s by allocating management authority to selected users. In this article, ex periences from a case study in the inshore fisheries of Ireland involving t he establishment of a fisheries comanagement system are used to discuss the specific problem of finding an unit to whom regulatory authority may be de legated. Here, the fishers who will benefit from the co-management scheme w ill also carry the costs, and it is argued that establishment of formal eco nomic liability between those granted management privileges and those exclu ded can optimise the legitimacy of management authority in fisheries co-man agement systems. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.