In poor countries, with weak governmental institutions, nonexistent data and limited management capabilities, fisheries resources are largely at the mercy of those who would exploit them for short-term gain. This is upsetting to Hugh Downs. As vice mayor of the municipality of Corn Island until last November, he knows that the health of the local economy depends on protecting fisheries resources. Even more, he feels local government should have a say in setting and enforcing regulations. It should also retain more of the money raised from license and concession fees, which now largely bypass local communities and go straight to the Nicaraguan capital.
Local fishermen call for more regulations.
Up until now, local people along Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast have had little voice in deciding how the vital fishing industry should be managed. But this will now change, according to participants at a meeting on Corn Island of a newly formed fisherman's commission. At the meeting, small-scale fishermen, representatives of the fisheries industries and municipal officials all worked to come up with a unified set of positions aimed at influencing municipal and national government policy. In former years, such an effort would have been doomed to failure, as individual interest groups tended to pursue narrow interests with little regard for cooperation or compromise. But now, an IDB-financed program to strengthen local government is giving new legitimacy to groups such as a fisherman's commission.