Fisheries management in post-communist Poland: prospects of user-participation

The dismantling of communism in Poland has left the two key sectors in fisheries, state and co-operative, broken. At the same time the private sector is flourishing. Also the system of interest representation, for instance relating to fisheries management, is radically changed. This has led to dis-organization and dis-integration at all levels as compared to the previous situation, and there exists a void for collective action that somehow needs to be filled. New legislation is underway that will encourage user-involvement in fisheries management. In the process, an interest for the revival of some traditional institutions at the local level (the so called maszoperias) has been spurred. In this paper we summarize the present situation within Polish fisheries and describe some of the new legislation that is on the drawing board pertaining to fisheries management. We also depict the history of the maszoperias, how they worked in practice, and the potentials they may offer for the future.