Abstract

A bottom-up approach to planning was implemented for the formulation of the 2001 to 2003 Fisheries Management Plan for Barbados. Rather than seek public participation through obtaining comments on an existing draft, this process sought wide stakeholder input without prepared text. The main initiative was a series of fish landing site community consultations aimed at identifying issues and recommending actions for inclusion in the draft management plan. Fishing industry organisations and the Fisheries Division of government collaborated in this process. Industry issues focused mainly on immediate problems with landing site infrastructure and constraints affecting income-generating activities. Conservation was mentioned primarily in the context of fisheries known already to be in crisis. Most of the actions recommended placed responsibility for fisheries management principally on government, with relatively little responsibility shared by the fishing industly. This paper examines the inputs and outputs of the participatory process prior to drafting the 2001-2003 Fisheries Management Plan for Barbados.

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