An assessment of the potential for community-level management of the sea urchin fishery in Barbados

The potential for community-level management of the sea urchin fishery in Barbados was investigated by interviewing 35 sea urchin fishermen to obtain information on the characteristics of the fishery and fishing community, and on the fishermen's responses to management.There are about 220 fishermen in the fishery, approximately 6 million sea urchins are harvested annually during the legal harvest season, and most fishermen (91%) consider revenue from the fishery to be an important part of their annual income.Although most fishermen (88%) claimed that over-harvesting was not a major cause of decreased sea urchin abundance, most (74%) felt that the fishery should be managed.Management measures most favoured by fishermen included gear restrictions, seasonal closure and habitat preservation.Measures least favoured were licensing and allocation of exclusive fishing rights to community groups.Fishermen perceived sea urchin fishing areas to differ in quality, which would create equity problems for allocation of property rights between communities.Moreover, most fishermen (76%) did not object to persons from outside their community sharing their fishing area, and felt that it would be difficult to prevent this.Less than half of the fishermen (48-49%) felt that community management groups could be formed, or that a community leader could encourage greater cooperation amongst sea urchin fishermen within the community.Based on these results, it seems unlikely that an area-specific community-level management approach, such as that used in St. Lucia, would be effective for the Barbados sea urchin fishery.An alternative co-management approach, which uses a system of flexible closed seasons implemented by Government but determined annually by fishermen monitoring sea urchin abundance, is described and recommended.