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The aim of this paper is to provide insights into how the implementation of co-management systems can be a way of building trust between authorities and the users of a common-pool resource (CPR). In this paper, it is shown that a new co-management system can be triggered by an ecological crisis, and that trust and social factors are crucial for successful institutional development. This paper also discusses the definition of the concept of 'co-management' and the importance of scale and horizontal/vertical linkages in the management of CPRs. "It is concluded that managing fisheries with unexpected changes and complexity in linked social-ecological systems require actors (both fishermen and authorities) who learn from failures and, when necessary, initiate and achieve institutional change. The creation of social- ecological resilience can be looked upon as a process - a socially-generated collective good - which is likely to result in better governance systems. In this context, the role of institutions in building adaptive capacity and supporting collective rationality is important. To the extent that the conclusions derived from this case study are applicable to society in general, this would indicate that, in order to restore the legitimacy of and trust in policy making and governing institutions in society, more bottom-up processes with user participation and engaged citizens are needed ; Godkänd; 2006; 20090923 (carl_r)

The aim of this paper is to provide insights into how implementation of co-management systems can be a way in building trust between authorities and the users of a CPR. It is shown that a new co-management system can be developed and "triggered" by an ecological crisis and that trust and social networks are crucial factors for successful institutional development.The trawl fishery for vendus (Coregonus albula) in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, has been top-down regulated by the State. At the beginning of the 1990s, catches started to decrease dramatically. In response to the poor performance of the fishery, a co-management system, with sharing of power and responsibilities between the authorities and the trawl fishermen, was implemented.It is concluded that managing fisheries with unexpected changes and complexity in linked social-ecological systems requires actors who learn from failures and, when necessary, initiate and achieve institutional change. The creation of social-ecological resilience can be looked upon as a process - a socially generated collective good - which is likely to result in better governance systems. In this context, the role of institutions in building adaptive capacity and supporting collective rationality is important. ; Godkänd; 2006; 20070505 (ysko)

The fishing of vendace (Coregonus albula), in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, is a good illustration of the presumption that institutional arrangements which are too inflexible to cope with changing ecological conditions are unlikely to prosper. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of a better understanding of governance in a relatively small and clearly defined, but complex common-pool resource system. It also aims at providing insights into how different governance strategies affect individual users' incentives, as well as the adaptive capacity in such systems. Since the beginning of the 1960s, the trawl fishery for vendace has been top-down regulated by the State. At the beginning of the 1990s, catches started to decrease dramatically. This happened despite extensive state regulation and despite the fact that the resource is fairly non-migratory and concentrated in a limited area. In the thesis, the institutional framework that contributed to this crisis is analysed in terms of provision of incentives and the capability to adapt to changing ecological circumstances. It was found that despite deliberate state regulation, the existing governance system worsened the resource crisis. In response to the poor performance of the fishery, a co-management system, with sharing of power and responsibilities between the National Board of Fisheries and the trawl fishermen, was implemented. An extensive survey among trawl fishermen showed that, after three years of co-management, a change in individual behaviour has occurred. The fishermen had, to some extent, redirected their individual catch-maximising strategies towards long-term collective rationality. With regulations implemented through bottom-up, instead of top-down processes, the legitimacy for regulations had also increased considerably. The management system became more adaptive and created users who had the capability to react to changes in the ecosystem. As a result, catches have increased extensively since co-management was implemented. In the thesis, it is demonstrated how and with what mechanisms this change, from top-down to bottom-up approaches in management, has affected the incentives for individual fishermen and, how this has affected collective action and, thus, the long-term ecological survival of the vendace resource. It is concluded that, managing fisheries with unexpected changes and complexity in linked social-ecological systems requires actors (both fishermen and authorities), who learn from failures and, when necessary, initiate and achieve institutional change. The creation of social- ecological resilience can be looked upon as a process – a socially generated collective good – which is likely to result in better governance systems. In this context, the role of institutions in building adaptive capacity and supporting collective rationality is important. ; Godkänd; 2004; 20061026 (haneit)

The challenge of establishing adaptive management systems is a widely discussed topic in the literature on natural resource management. Adaptive management essentially focuses on achieving a governance process that is both sensitive to and has the capacity to continuously react to changes within the ecosystem being managed. The adoption of a network approach that perceives governance structures as social networks, searching for the kind of network features promoting this important feature, has been requested by researchers in the field. In particular, the possibilities associated with the application of a formal network approach, using the tools and concepts of social network analysis (SNA), have been identified as having significant potential for advancing this branch of research. This paper aims to address the relation between network structure and adaptability using an empirical approach. With the point of departure in a previously generated theoretical framework as well as related hypotheses, this paper presents a case study of a governance process within a fish management area in Sweden. The hypotheses state that, although higher levels of network density and centralisation promote the rule-forming process, the level of network heterogeneity is important for the existence and spread of ecological knowledge among the actors involved. According to the empirical results, restricted by the single-case study design, this assumption is still a well-working hypothesis. However, in order to advance our knowledge concerning these issues and test the validity of the hypotheses, more empirical work using a similar approach in multiple case study designs is needed. ; Validerad; 2010; 20090816 (annica_s)

Godkänd; 2005; Bibliografisk uppgift: Status och visionsrapport framlagd vid Nordiska Ministerrådets konferens Dåd eller Død 2 och 3 maj 2005 på Kattegatcentret i Grenaa, Danmark; 20070601 (ysko)