Research On China's Community-based Fisheries Management

Marine fisheries resources are common pool resources of non-excludability and rivalry in consumption. Therefore, it's very difficult to exclude the non-protectors to utilize the marine fisheries resources. In other words, there often be many free-riders, and it's a very common phenomenon. Then there will be no one willing to conserve the fisheries individually. The result of the commons'tragedy in the case of marine fisheries resources is out of question. In the view of literatures of institution arrangement about common property rights, there are three standpoints about how to avoid the occurrence of the commons'tragedy: one is to create private property rights to deal with the problem; the second is to allow the third party (such as government) to be responsible for the fisheries management; the third is to transfer management right of common resources to a lower level (like users of the resources).Currently, the active management mechanism of command and control in China's marine fisheries and the nature of commons and migratory transboundary, not only run short of encouragement mechanism which induces fishermen to conserve marine fisheries resources, but also try every possible to encourage fishermen to increase short-run incomes. Those indicate that China government's marine fisheries resources management system of the command and control has been failed to some extent. If China government wants to get rid of the foreordination of overcapitalization and overutilization in marine fisheries resources, it must depend upon institutional innovation. With the development of market economy and government management, community-based fisheries management was developed as an approach to deal with the puzzledom in marine fisheries management.Community-based fisheries management is a management system which the government and fishermen groups take on the rights and responsibilities of conservation and utilization of marine fisheries resources jointly.The dissertation firstly studies on the three paradigms of fisheries management and the related concepts, types as well as functions of the theories of community and participation. Followly, the dissertation researches the connotations, status quo of studies and the essential elements of community-based natural resources management, then researches the concepts, connotations, causes, design principles of systems, function of government as well as the related law problems of the community-based fisheries management.The author obeys the following two principles when selects the other nations and areas'community-based fisheries management to carry out the cases studies: one is the nation or area has the successful experiences of implementing the community-based fisheries management; the other is the nation or the area's situations are similar to China's and the China can learn much from its practices.The author finds that there is no organization which organizes fishermen to produce and work efficiently and provides general services for fishermen, together with protects fisheries resources and fishermen's rights and interests via studying on the performances of fishermen associations as a virtual community. Followly, the author analyzes the three premise conditions of China's implementing community-based fisheries management: (1) the government has the political will to transfer the rights to fisheries communities; (2) there is perfect system to provide kinds of guarantee; (3) there is proper organization to be charged with management function. On the basis of those, the dissertation analyzes the feasibility of China's implementing community-based fisheries management from the organization, system, law and effects: the active fishing village organization provides with organizational guarantee; the formal institutions (such as villager self-government, village native system and so on) and the informal institutions (such as ideology, social relationship networking, identity promises, credit of knowing well, reputation mechanism and so on) provides with institutional guarantee; Real Right Law of the Peoples Republic of China and Fisheries Law of the Peoples Republic of China provides with legal guarantee; community-based fisheries management system can play the role of protecting fisheries management and maintaining the development of fisheries resources, then guarantee the execution effects of these fisheries management system. The author points out the objects and principles of institution change of China's fisheries management system, and identifies that the way of institution change is from the compellent institution change to supply-led institution change, then to induced institution change. On the basis of the above, the author research the idiographic path of China's implementing community-based fisheries management: China's Marine Fisheries Management Association consisted of government, experts and fishermen deputy jointly is responsible for the marine fisheries resources management; community fishing quota under the total allowable catches is executed mainly while the other measures (such as the time closures, area closures and so on) are implemented assistantly to protect the fisheries resources to maintain the fishermen's livelihood; to perfect the Real Right Law, revise the Fisheries Law and legalize the Total Allowable Catches system and Community Fishing Quotas system; and to provide with political guarantees in the terms of government function change, strengthening the investigation and research of fisheries resources, perfecting the statistic of fisheries data, enhancing the fisheries law enforcement, programming the special fisheries rights project rationally, implementing vessels buy-back energetically, developing distant water fisheries vigorously and developing recreational fisheries actively.Ultimately, the author concludes the dissertation: community management is an approach to fisheries management which can't be replaced by market mechanism and government management; sustainable management of fisheries resources needs related communities'active participation; external intervention can rebuild the effective impact mechanism of fisheries resources community management. In the process of implementing community-based fisheries management, in order to achieve the sustainable development of marine fisheries resources, it should focus on harmonizing the relationship between government and fishermen via community and make use of the roles of market, government and community adequately.