Getting the Scale(s) Right in Ocean Fisheries Management: An Argument for Decentralised, Participatory Governance

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on the problem of scale in fisheries governance. This is the problem of what is the appropriate scale of the marine ecosystem for fisheries management purposes. Current fisheries management regimes largely bypass this problem by focusing their attention on scale-less, single species populations. But such an approach rests on an inadequate mental model that ignores the complexity of the marine ecosystem. By contrast, the ecosystem-based approach offers an alternative mental model that deals with this complexity, not by bypassing it, but by scaling down to local ecosystem levels, which are best managed by decentralised, co-management governance arrangements that make full use of resource users’ knowledge and also ensure accountability.