Chisasibi - James Bay Fishery, Canada

Resource System
Coastal marine ecosystem
Resource Units
Whitefish and Cisco (a salmonid species)

Chisasibi, formerly the island community of Fort George, is located on the eastern coast of James Bay, about 620 miles north of Montreal in the Canadian subarctic. The original case, which spans from 1974-1976, catalogues an action situation involving approximately 1,600 resident native people and 225 nonnatives. The resource units are two species of Coregonus fish: whitefish and cisco. The communal management of the fishery is successful in that there are no pollution and overuse problems. The Cree have developed their own system of rules to manage their fishery. These rules control types of technology, fishing spots, size of catch, and access to the fishery.

This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR coding conducted in the 1980s by Edella Schlager and Shui Yan Tang at Indiana University may be found under the CPR tab in the Institutional Analysis section below.