Legitimacy objects, agents, and evaluators: A framing to strengthen planning and performance of fisheries co-management

Abstract

Fisheries co-management policy and research have been extensively reported in recent decades, with mixed results in process and outcome. Co-management has proliferated worldwide under the assumption that fisher participation in resource regimes enhances authority of decisions, reduces transaction costs, and increases compliance. The concept of legitimacy is central to this assumption, but its use in fisheries has been vague and unrelated to its political dimension. Here, legitimacy is framed through three complementary research configurations used in organization studies (as property, process, and perception) to show its relevance for fisheries co-management. Studying the congruence of decision-making with fishers’ normative expectations, funders’ judgments on validity of environmental stewardship or fishers’ perception of propriety not to comply can strengthen institutional diagnostics and influence co-management success through better planning, evaluation, or management of legitimacy attributes. A proposal is developed for addressing fisheries co-management within national boundaries, but it can also inform other environmental regimes.