Collaborative Approach to Fisheries Management as a Way to Increase the Effectiveness of Future Regulations in the Galapagos Archipelago

Abstract

For coastal fishing communities, it is becoming increasingly clear that the key to success is community-based comanagement, which incorporates all users and stakeholders in the decision-making processes about fisheries management. Established regulations can easily fail due to lack of enforcement. However, many coastal communities do not have the economic resources for the necessary enforcement and therefore rely on compliance by fishers. There are about 400 local fishers in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR), who depend on the exploitation of coastal resources for their living. Evidence shows that the GMR suffers from lack of compliance; coastal resources have been overexploited and illegal fishing has been observed. The results of interviewing 26 % of Galapagos’ active fishers show no trust in scientific studies, lack of income alternatives provided, no dissemination of results, and lack of participation of fishers in the studies. We argue that the abovementioned problems can be tackled by using a collaborative approach, which includes fishing community members in each step of the research process. This would foster a sense of belonging among the Galapagos fishers, who are currently an underrepresented part of the already-established comanagement scheme, which has yet to achieve sustainable fisheries in the Galapagos Islands.