| Summary: | This thesis focuses on transactional process involved in the construction and operation of the Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group. This cooperative wildlife management mechanism gives Yup'ik commercial and subsistence fishermen and other users a direct role, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, in salmon management. Transactions involving participants' knowledge and values are described in three processes: (1) the establishment of a management body and its operating rules; (2) the mediation of power in decision-making; and, (3) fishery management which uses both "science" and "fishermen's knowledge." Results indicate that through cooperation in decision-making, data gathering, and other management tasks the participants have been able to promote record commercial salmon harvests while at the same time providing for subsistence and conservation needs. Shared local values of consensus and reciprocity have acted to sustain participants' interaction in the bargaining process inherent in co-management. Through having to mediate and accommodate diverse interests and goals, the participants have developed a significant congruency or compatibility of values.
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