Regulatory Compliance in small scale fisheries on San Andres and Old Providence Islands (Colombia)

The proposed research is to evaluate how contextual variables affect compliance with fisheries regulations. The analysis was carried out on two islands, San Andres and Old Providence, which share many cultural antecedents. Nevertheless each island chose a very different path of economic development. This creates a natural experiment in which to evaluate how factors that vary systematically across the two islands affect the compliance decisions. The research evaluates how contextual variables such as knowledge of rules and regulations, perception about punishment and formal enforcement levels, perception of social control and fishers’ attitudes about legitimacy of rules, and social/economic factors, affect compliance with fisheries regulations. A survey of fishermen was completed and data from that survey was used to econometrically estimate a model of compliance choices. Reports on violation are much higher than in previous studies, and results suggest that despite the structural differences between the two islands, the levels of compliance are the same, but the significant factors which explain compliance differ. Specific conditions on each island must be taken into account particularly, so the impact of the environmental policy will be higher on each island according to its own conditions.