At the crossroads of co-management in a complex socioecological system: Lessons from the first participatory management plan in Chile

Abstract

Co-management of a system or resource should be understood as an approach to governance in which there is some redistribution of power between the state and a community of users. Despite its potential utility, its application in traditional, hierarchically complex systems faces social challenges that impede self-organization and/or self-management. In a new attempt to promote the sustainability of fisheries in Chile, Management Plans were incorporated into the Fisheries Law in 2013. These plans were based on the Management Plan for the Contiguous Zone (MPCZ), the first participatory Management Plan of a fishery in Chile. While the plan failed to achieve self-organization and expired after 14 years, part of its legacy includes a framework for the operation and governance of Management Plans. In this article, we adopted a general socioecological framework to analyze and discuss the MPCZ and its governance model. The hierarchy established by the state has restricted the development of the management process and threatens its potential contribution to the sustainability of fisheries. Distrust among users, scientists and state officials has also been an obstacle to strengthening co-management. The Management Plans represent an opportunity for traditionally hierarchical administration of fisheries to evolve towards co-management, as long as the state modifies its previous strategies and chooses to strengthen and consolidate the participative processes.