Legitimacy and disappointment in fisheries management

Co-management, i.e. the democratic participation of user-groups in regulatory decision-making, is expected to improve the legitimacy of fisheries management schemes. This, again, is assumed to result in a higher degree of fishers’ compliance. But what if co-management fails to produce this outcome? Legitimacy should not be anticipated regardless of institutional design of co-management. This paper critically examines the meaning of legitimacy and which institutional designs of fisheries management regimes are conducive to legitimacy.