Multi-Scale Fisheries Management in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands: What Influences Participation?

This manuscript examines marine resource users' perceptions of, experiences with, and responses to federal and territorial fisheries management processes in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. Drawing on anthropological critiques of common pool resources (CPR) institutions and political ecology, I describe the historical, social, and political factors that influence how fisheries management occurs at multiple scales and how it is experienced by fishers, managers, and other stakeholders. This multi-scale approach is both timely and important, as resources and communities throughout the world are increasingly global zed and interconnected ; it is virtually impossible to find an example of a CPR being managed at the local scale, devoid of the influence of external factors. As a result, it is becoming more common for resources and resource users to be subject to regulations and management regimes at multiple levels and scab (such as federal and territorial). For this reason, it is critical to examine how management institutions across scales impact one another and influence key elements of management, such as stakeholder participation. Fisheries management in St. Croix provides an opportunity to explore how the complexities of multi-scale resource management occur at the local level and how resource users and other stakeholders experience and perceive those processes. Specifically, this manuscript describes whether and how fishers and other marine resource stakeholders participate in management processes and how factors such as demographic heterogeneity, historical patterns of social group interactions, and the complexity of management processes influence participation.