The purpose of this paper is discuss the role of government, primarily
national government, in fisheries co-management. This paper investiga
tes the critical role of decentralization in a strategy of comanagemen
t using a number of international cases. The experiences of co-managem
ent and decentralization provide for a number of policy implications t
o be drawn concerning the role of government. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc
e Ltd.