R/PO-05

Description:

The goal of the proposed project is to assist blue crab stakeholders to move beyond current controversy and conflict toward deliberations on co-management of fishery. The specific objectives of the project are: 1) to promote mutual learning and dialogue that can move stakeholders toward deliberations on co-management; 2) to improve relations between watermen and processors, on the one hand, and state natural resource managers and policymakers, non-governmental conservationists, and Bay and blue crab scientists, on the other hand; 3) to apply and evaluate the benefits of integrating cultural model data into a cooperative learning process aimed at working through environmental conflict; 4) to contribute to a growing body of social science studies on integrating community-based knowledge into management approaches for fisheries; 5) to provide timely and accessible information on the progress of the project to a diverse research, policy, educational and industry audience.