Highlight findings from the report
1 Delivering fisheries co-management
Whilst there is a great deal of discussion about whether and how to deliver co-management, IFCAs by their very design are already doing it. It’s important to note the distinction between community-based management (which mainly focusses on the prioritisation of communities), and co-management which is about partnership between government and communities. The latter realises the benefits of local voices and knowledge, enabling people to have a say in policies which affect their lives, but within the context of national strategic governance and vision, where the national benefit and public good is centre stage. Established literature on co-management attests that true co-management requires representation of multiple coastal stakeholders, capable of managing marine resources for all society, rather than one single group, accompanied by decentralisation of powers to implement decisions to an organisational level that can balance different interests.
“I actually think the IFCA model’s brilliant – we’re like the full cycle of what fisheries management is but just condensed into a little local bundle. We’ve got science teams that collect data…and we go out and enforce the legislation that we’ve brought in. And if we get feedback that the legislation isn’t working right we can do some more research that informs the policy so it’s full cycle between science, data, policy and legislation, and enforcement”
IFCA Officer, Interview 31
“The meticulous attention to detail is the plus side of the IFCA, … we’d never create a byelaw that’s unenforceable because we’re the ones that have got to enforce it, so we know it’s got to be watertight and evidence-based.”
IFCA Officer, Interview 42
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