Abstract:
Fisheries co-management starts with the premise that stakeholders have the innate capacity to improve resource
condition as well as the welfare of the society. If this is true, there is a need for rapid and substantial devolution of fisheries
management institutions. The main purpose of this study was to examine net welfare change to society as a result of the comanagement
system at Oxbow Lakes in Bangladesh. The simultaneous equation model consisting of supply, demand and
identity equations were estimated and Marshallian surplus measurement was used to estimate the welfare change before and
after the co-management system. The pooling technique proposed by Kmenta (1971; 1986) was utilized for the estimation.
The analysis showed that the co-management program had caused a welfare gain to society.
