Community Fisheries Management Handbook - Saint Mary's University

This chapter talks about how to build collaboration for community-based
fisheries management through:
Linking and Networking
Forming Alliances
Participating in Advisory Bodies
Building Supporting Institutions
Scaling Up
WHAT IS IT?
Collaboration occurs when two parties actively and consistently work
together to achieve common goals. In community-based fisheries management,
collaboration suggests the coordination of management and resource
use efforts, as well as efforts to promote and support communitybased
management, not only within the fishery but beyond it as well.
Community-based management institutions collaborate to:
coordinate their own activities internally and with neighbouring management
units
communicate and try to solve problems with others
resolve internal and external disputes
maximize the impact and influence of their efforts
Collaboration is a more active partnership than coordination. Coordination
means trying to ensure organizational activities complement or do
not hinder another’s. Collaboration means jointly working to plan and
implement complementary activities.
Supporting Institutions are the places or programs that provide capacity
building support to fishing organizations engaged in community-based
fisheries management. They are vital in expanding the impact of community-based
fisheries management efforts.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Fisheries management in many locations suffers from uncoordinated resource
use strategies among the many different levels of government and the
government agencies responsible for regulating the ocean and coastal zones.
Community-based fisheries management can offer an alternative by showing
that collaboration and coordination across boundaries is possible.
Collaboration builds stronger alliances supporting community fisheries.
And without coordination, community-based initiatives may work at cross
purposes to one another, with each community or organization trying to
protect “their” community at the expense of other users and communities.
Approaches taken by various governments have created situations that pit:
Native and non-Native communities against each other
Different gear types against each other
Harvesters with access to marine resources against those with limited
access
People from one community against resource users from another
community
Collaboration can reverse this trend and build a stronger movement dedicated
to community-based management.
HOW TO DO IT
Collaboration does not happen quickly. Collaboration requires a shared
value system. For groups to work together, they first have to build relationships
and trust. The relationship has to be rooted in equity, fairness, and a
shared history and commitment.
Described in the rest of this chapter are types of activities that often lead to
collaboration (linking and networking, participating in advisory bodies), as
well as the kinds of results that happen because of collaboration (forming
alliances, building supporting institutions, scaling up).
Linking and Networking
WHAT IS IT?
Networking is the process of developing knowledge of, and contacts with,
C O M M U N I T Y F I S H E R I E S M A N AG E M E N T H A N D B O O K