Does Self Management in Fisheries Enhance Profitability? Examination of Korea’s Coastal Fisheries

Self management of natural resources has started to gain increasing attention as an alternative tool to command-and-control and market-based tools, but the fundamental question remains: is self management economically beneficial such that it should be promoted in the first place? This article uses a unique set of survey data from South Korea and applies an empirical strategy to provide some of the first quantitative evidence that self management is benefiting the fishermen. We find that positive benefits of fishery self management—an increase in fishery revenue and reduction in cost—are perceived by member fishermen, which is a good start considering the average number of years since the establishment of these self-management groups is only about seven. Empirical results of the magnitude of change in profit showed some consistent results, although the estimates were not as robust. These results suggest that the impact of fishery self management is still in progress. Thus, the government should maintain its current position to support self management as the country’s fishery management policy.