Self-regulation strategies and co-management of fisheries resources in the Amazon basin

Six kinds of fisheries were recently developed in the Amazon basin: subsistence, mono-specific commercial for exportation, multi-specific commercial for local market, ornamental, reservoir and recreative fishery. Some of them exploit the same stocks. These overlays generate conflicts between resources users, mainly between subsistence fisheries and commercial fisheries who harvest fish in floodplain areas. Self-regulation and co-management have recently shown good results as strategies to the conservation of natural stocks and to promote sustainable development. The settling of a pact between resource users has been the most frequently strategy used by the Brazilian government in the decentralization of fishery management. In this paper, we describe the users' conflicts in the Amazonian and analyze one case study of fisheries co-management in the Amazon basin, aiming to evaluate its feasibility as a strategy towards resource conservation and users welfare.