Collaborating Across Borders: Fishery Conservation in the Great Lakes through a Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries

Fishery management authority on the Great Lakes is spread among eight states, the Province of Ontario, and Native American tribes.  Primary management responsibility rests with these sub-national governments, and no overarching authority exists to compel them to cooperate.  The jurisdictions face conflict over their fishery management, as they have differing management philosophies, needs, constituent pressures, and political dynamics.  To work within this paradigm, the jurisdictions adhere to A Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries, a non-binding, consensus-based agreement.  This paper presents the Joint Strategic Plan as an institution for collective action, with a special emphasis on cooperative law enforcement through the plan’s structures.