. Conflict management as a means to the sustainable use of natural resources. Silva Fennica 40(4): 687-728.Democratic societies' emphasis on individual rights and freedoms inevitably opens them up to political disputes. Conflict management should thus be seen as an integral part of democratic institutional design. The evolution and management of policy disputes concerning the use of different natural resources in Finland is analysed by using the theoretical models of frame analysis and strategic interaction. The studied disputes include lake fisheries, watercourse regulation, reindeer herding, and forestry. The institutional design in the case studies varies. Despite the differences, many common features are identified that could explain their successes or difficulties in achieving sustainable and cooperative use of the resources. Among these are problems involving complex and uncertain knowledge, differences in frames held by multiple users of a resource, and distrust between the users and other parties. The analysis concludes with preliminary conclusions on how various disputes related to sustainable resource use could be managed. These include addressing the knowledge and frame problems in order to initiate a learning process; establishing sub-processes in which mutual trust between the parties -including a managing authority or a third party -can emerge; giving explicit roles and a clear division of entitlement to the parties; and providing a credible alternative for co-operation that affects the parties' payoff assessments during the process. Finally, the conflict management process shouldn't be regarded as a distinct phase of dispute resolution, but as an essential aspect of ongoing co-management practices of resource use.

Traditionally most inland water bodies in Finland were privately owned as an extension of land ownership. Statutory ®shery associations are responsible for local decision-making on most lakes. Social dimensions have been tightly embedded in decision making by these associations. The local level of Finnish ®sheries management has been subjected to a fundamental shift from locally based subsistence ®shing and wide local participation in ®sheries associations to a wide range of non-local recreational demands and decreasing participation. In this paper the functionality of local resource management in the Finnish context of private ownership of ®shing waters is studied, with focus on the social signi®cance of local decision-making and representation of user groups in the decision-making process. The main material consists of personal thematic interviews with a range of ®shermen, decision makers and other stakeholders in two lakes. K E Y W O R D S : Finland, local governance, recreational ®sheries, thematic interviews.

Traditionally most inland water bodies in Finland were privately owned as an extension of land ownership. Statutory ®shery associations are responsible for local decision-making on most lakes. Social dimensions have been tightly embedded in decision making by these associations. The local level of Finnish ®sheries management has been subjected to a fundamental shift from locally based subsistence ®shing and wide local participation in ®sheries associations to a wide range of non-local recreational demands and decreasing participation. In this paper the functionality of local resource management in the Finnish context of private ownership of ®shing waters is studied, with focus on the social signi®cance of local decision-making and representation of user groups in the decision-making process. The main material consists of personal thematic interviews with a range of ®shermen, decision makers and other stakeholders in two lakes. K E Y W O R D S : Finland, local governance, recreational ®sheries, thematic interviews.

Interlocked use of multiple inland vendace, Coregonus albula (L.), stocks is a relatively new strategy to exploit asynchronous fluctuations in abundance of natural fish stocks between waterbodies. It combines vendace stocks from different lakes or parts of lakes into one interlocked stock to be managed across waterbody ownership boundaries. Management of interlocked stocks can be regarded as one form of portfolio management. Exploitation of interlocked stocks should reduce the interannual variation in yield, and thus ensuring fishers more constant income and the market more constant material flow. The strategy requires fishers to increase their mobility, to benefit from asynchronous fluctuations in abundance of vendace stocks between exploitable waters. A postal inquire addressed to Finnish commercial inland fishers examined whether existing property rights institutionsÕ and fishersÕ harvesting policies were appropriate to establish interlocked use of multiple vendace stocks. Almost half of fishers had, to some extent, reaped benefit from a fishing strategy that included small-scale mobility, which is consistent with the proposed strategy. By harvesting three or four lakes and stocks, fishers increased their yield compared with exploiting one fishing ground and one vendace stock. Public ownership provided fishers access to stocks nearer their place of residence than other ownership types. K E Y W O R D S : fisheries management, inland fisheries, interlocked use, portfolio management, property rights, vendace.

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