Solving the common-property dilemma: Village fisheries rights in Japanese Coastal waters

Through a rights system and membership in local cooperative associations, Japanese coastal fishermen have legally guaranteed suitable access to and 'ownership' of the living aquatic resources in their tenured waters. Contemporary Japanese coastal sea tenure involves time-honored village customary procedures that have been incorporated into modern legislation. Among other things, these complex and locally varied systems consist of the intimate interplay of community rules of conduct, local social sanctions and the interpersonal behaviour of fishermen with the formal institutions. This chapter examines the main features of fisheries rights, cooperative associations, and the use of sea territory in Japanese coastal waters.