Title: Introduction of community-based management in the small scale coastal fisheries of Liberia

Efforts to manage the fisheries of Liberia began in 1956 with the creation of the Bureau of National Fisheries (BNF). Management, however, has remained minimal with measures limited to licensing, heavily concentrated on the industrial fisheries sector, and leaving the coastal artisanal fisheries virtually unmanaged. This open access situation has subjected the coastal artisanal fisheries to the common property problem leading to overcapacity and overexploitation due to the race-to-fish.

This study provides a theoretical review of community fisheries management and describes a particular form of community-based co-management thought to be suitable for the coastal artisanal fisheries of Liberia. A preliminary implementation plan is devised, the associated costs estimated and the potential benefits, in terms of economically more efficient fisheries, assessed. A rudimentary cost-benefit analysis suggests that implementing community-based co-management in Liberia is likely to yield significant net economic
benefits.