In many countries and in many publications the small-scale fisheries sector is treated as a world apart which must be managed separately from other fisheries and even from other activities in the coastal area. Management systems currently available may leave little choice but such an approach seems likely to place the small-scale sector at a disadvantage with respect to other sectors. Much research is currently focussed on the themes of co-management and especially community-based management. However, great care is required in deciding that locally-based management is a more appropriate response than centrally-based. Bardhan (1996, pp. 1354-5) argues that "one should resist the temptation to romanticise the value of the local community as a social and economic organisation... On the equity side, it is important to keep in mind that in situations of severe social and economic inequality at the local level, decentralisation can be highly inadequate in helping the poor. It may be easy for the local overlords to capture the local community institutions...". He goes on to argue that such capture may be more difficult at a national level whilst at the same time the poor may find it more economical to organise themselves nationally. Centralised policy co-ordination may therefore be more appropriate depending on the particular circumstances.
Focussing on economic surplus would suggest that, rather than considering who exploits the resource, policy should create conditions within which the best utilisation of the resource (from a social perspective) can emerge. Encompassing management systems are required wherein those who can exploit the resource at the lowest opportunity cost are able to do so. In developing countries, this may well mean the smallscale sector since, as pointed out by World Bank, (1992, p. 15), the sector has many advantages: it is labour-intensive, consumes less fuel, generally uses more selective gear and is less dependent on imported equipment and materials. The small-scale sector's capital is owned locally, often by the fishers themselves. And because the small-scale fishers depend on resources adjacent to their communities, they have a greater self interest than large-scale fishers in management of the fisheries. Sometimes however resource and market conditions may mean that the advantage lies with the largerscale sector. What is important is that management systems exist such that it is the resource-users themselves who decide what is the appropriate scale of activity.
Although some such systems exist, it is questionable to what extent they could be used to develop management frameworks that are capable of encompassing both the industrial and small-scale sectors. Research is urgently required in this area. Given the likely widespread applicability of results, there would seem to be a strong case for international funding and co-ordination. If left to purely national funding this area of research is likely to be underfunded because the benefits from research in one country spilling over into other countries will be ignored. This kind of externality will not be taken into account in a national priority setting context and suggests an additional role for bilateral and international agencies.
