User participation and institutional change in fisheries management: a viable alternative to the failures of ‘top-down’ driven control?

This article investigates the role and value of user participation in fisheries management. New empirical data on changes in the institutional structure of fisheries management systems is presented by examining the management structure of two Danish fisheries. The analysis focuses on how user participation functions are institutionalized as co-management between administrators and user groups. General lessons for successful user participation in management are deduced. The paper concludes that co-management is able to overcome some of the fundamental problems related to modern fisheries management and that co-management can work as an active and effective management tool rather than as an impediment to efficient management.