Co-management involves small-scale fishers and other actors coming together to negotiate, establish, and agree to an equitable sharing of the management, tenure, and responsibilities of a territory or resource. Learn more about managing inland and marine resources through collaborative and participatory processes in the resources below. 

Resources

A Fishery Manager's Guidebook

Fisheries management is a complex and evolving discipline and much is still being learned about what it involves, what works and what does not. The problem is compounded by the fact that fisheries management as a coherent discipline is still poorly defined and frequently equally poorly understood. This publication strives to identify the primary tasks in management of capture fisheries, with particular emphasis on sustainable utilization of the biological resources, and to demonstrate how these tasks should be integrated and coordinated to obtain the desired benefits from the biological resources in a sustainable and responsible manner.
Science, knowledge & information gathering
Science and assessments
Technology for fisheries
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Fisheries management

Traditional knowledge Use for the Sustainable Management of Marine and Fishing Resources

This study offers systematization of three experiences in Central America where traditional knowledge has been used to improve marine spatial planning and frame a new policy oriented towards human rights approaches to fisheries and has given better tools for the governance of community-managed protected areas.
Science, knowledge & information gathering
Traditional and local ecological knowledge
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Fisheries management

Reserved Parking: Marine Reserves and Small-scale Fishing Communities: A collection of articles from Samudra Report by ICSF, 2008

This dossier puts together a collection of articles from the pages of SAMUDRA Report, the triannual journal of ICSF. The articles show that conservation and livelihoods are closely intertwined, and that top-down, non participatory models of conservation can be counterproductive. Despite being poor and powerless, fishing and coastal communities can be powerful allies in conservation efforts, given their longstanding dependence on natural resources and their traditional ecological knowledge systems. As the examples in the dossier reveal, it is possible for fishing communities to protect and conserve the environment, while continuing with sustainable fishing operations.
Science, knowledge & information gathering
Traditional and local ecological knowledge
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Fisheries management
Other resources & approaches
Participatory processes and stakeholder engagement

Guía para fortalecer la gobernanza de la pesca en los territorios indígenas de Centroamérica

La presente guía ha sido desarrollada con los elementos brindados por lo líderes indígenas y pescadores indígenas por medio de la APICA y representantes de las instituciones estatales dedicadas a la desarrollo de la pesca en los países centroamericanos , siendo priorizados y consensuados por los representantes indígenas centroamericanos para valorar la gobernanza de la pesca indígena para la afirmación de la gestión territorial en función del crecimiento económico, la inclusión social y protección ambiental.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Fisheries management
Tenure rights
Indigenous rights

Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change Empowers Coastal Communities in Timor-Leste

Community members and leaders in the coastal districts of Atauro and Batugade in Timor-Leste learn how to protect their livelihoods against climate change by using community-based adaptation processes.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Fisheries management
Disaster risks & climate change
Climate change
Disaster preparedness and response
Human-induced threats
Other resources & approaches
Leadership
Participatory processes and stakeholder engagement

Participatory frameworks and stakeholder strengthening

FAO's course to develop an understanding of the actors and organizations involved in rural poverty reduction and the ways in which they interact. The importance of participatory framework, approaches and methods is highlighted, and the importance of a collaborative and inclusive way of working.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Other resources & approaches
Capacity development
Participatory processes and stakeholder engagement

Mexican Baja California FEDECOOP Benthic Species Territorial Use Rights for Fishing System

The Baja California Regional Federation of Fishing Cooperative Societies (FEDECOOP) is a Territorial Use Rights for Fishing (TURF) program in Mexico. FEDECOOP consists of 13 fishing Cooperatives that collectively manage 10 TURFs to promote sustainable harvests, increase market access and power and provide stability to fishermen and fishing communities.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Fisheries management
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
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