Co-management Experiences in Samoa

In 1995 the Fisheries Division of Samoa developed a co-management policy for the nation’s small-scale coastal fisheries. It began to work with fishing communities to develop Village Fisheries Management Plans, providing villages with any technical assistance they needed to develop the plans. Provided the rules proposed in the management plans were consistent with national law, the government would help the communities make them legally binding by issuing them as by-laws. Once approved, the by-laws were disseminated via radio.

Within the first two years of implementing the co-management policy, the Fisheries Division had helped 44 communities adopt Fisheries Management Plans. These plans all contained elements of sound ecosystem management. For example, all of the plans banned the use of dynamite (a destructive fishing practice), 86 percent established local marine protected areas, and 75 percent set mesh size limits on fishing nets to reduce the accidental capture of juvenile fish. The government implemented the program gradually, providing extension services to roughly 10 new villages per year. Extension officers would first meet with the community; if it was interested, the officers would convene a community assembly to negotiate the co-management arrangement, including the various duties and obligations of the state and the community. Satisfaction with the program was generally high. An internal review in 2000 found that 86 percent of the villages were implementing management plans at or above average competency (King and Fa’asili 1999:138-140; World Bank 2004:42)