Fisheries Management in Post-Communist Poland: Prospects of User-Group Participation

Abstract

**Paper was subsequently published as "Burning Bridges? Polish Fisheries Co-operatives in Times of Transition" in Maritime Anthropological Studies (MAST), 4(2):72-86.

"In the wake of the transition from communism to capitalism, the structure of the Polish fishing industry radically changed. The heavy-weight state fisheries sector is dismantled and privatized. Privatization also left the co-operative sector isolated and vulnerable. Without government support and with their confederative institutions abolished, their role as co-manager was severely limited relative to the situation that prevailed under communist rule. The small scale private sector, while obtaining more freedom under the new regime, still suffers from minimal fish-quotas and lack of government assistance.

"To become influential in fisheries management Polish fishermen are in need of collective organizations that can broker their concerns and interests vis-a-vis government, and they have experiences from traditional institutions to draw upon. In some communities along the Baltic coast, the traditional (pre World War II) forms of co-management institutions - the so-called 'maschoperias' - still exists. What are the prospects of revitalization of these traditional management institutions now that the state sector has vanished and the co-operative sector is near to collapsing? What conditions, external as well as internal to their communities, may enhance the role 'maschoperias' in Polish fisheries management? The data presented in this paper is gathered from fishing communities and 'maschoperias' in Kashubian region of Baltic Poland."