Options for co-management of an Indonesian coastal fishery

Perceptions of fisheries authorities and fishers on the status of the fisheries and fish stocks in Spermonde Archipelago, a coastal shelf off SW Sulawesi, Indonesia, seem to concur. However, constraints imposed by the administrative and physical environment and by the weak contrasts in fishery outcome within Spermonde cause these partners cannot find realistic arguments for a causal relation between catch and effort from their experiences. Therefore co-management for fisheries in this area is not yet viable. More informative use of fisheries data by standardising the unit of effort, accounting for the fast developments in motorization, and combining data on fisheries and ecological grounds rather than on administrative grounds will increase the management value of already available official data. Exchange of experiences between local fisheries authorities and fishers from districts or provinces with highly contrasting levels of fishing intensity will facilitate discussions on the need and benefits of effort regulations.