An Experiment in Fishery Co-management: Evidence From Big Creek

Abstract

This article examines a cooperative arrangement between a small group of fishers and the university-based manager of a terrestrial reserve along California's Big Sur coast. The local institutional arrangement began its course toward comanagement with a handshake agreement between the reserve manager and local fishers to afford them access to preferred fishing grounds in exchange for maintaining a ''no-take'' zone adjacent to the reserve. We discuss the key features of the arrangement, its strengths and weaknesses, and its relevance to the legal designation, monitoring, and evaluation of one of California's newest marine reserves. We argue that the continued viability of the Big Creek arrangement and its fuller realization as a form of comanagement is contingent upon the state's and other researchers' recognition of its value, and social learning by fishers and these actors to recognize, respect, and value each others' contributions to fishery and reserve management.