Abstract

Despite being the focus of directed management for decades, marine fisheries around the world are in decline. We surveyed the literature to evaluate the efficacy of small-scale fishery cooperatives in managing common-pool fishery resources, and to identify the prevailing challenges to cooperative formation and operation, and the critical design elements for successful cooperatives. Collective management of common-pool fishery resources by users organized into cooperatives can result not only in sustainable resource use and enhanced socioeconomic benefits, but also in ecosystem conservation and stewardship. The effectiveness of fishery cooperatives depends on a variety of factors. In addition, there must be measures for aligning the cooperative members’ interests with long-term sustainability, including the presence of secure fishing rights.

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