Ayers, Adam2017-12-182017-12-182016-12http://hdl.handle.net/10125/51584Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2016.Includes bibliographical references.Marine ecosystem loss and degradation are a worldwide phenomenon. Ineffective management has allowed land-based pollution, overharvesting, competing uses, and excess coastal development to proliferate in many places. A variety of management innovations have been developed and promoted to improve social and ecological outcomes. Co-management is one promising innovation that entails shared management authority between resource users or communities and a central government. Although co-management has shown great promise in improving natural resources management in many settings, governments and communities often face challenges during shifts from a command and control regulatory approach to a collaborative one. Hawai‘i is one geography where governance transitions to co-management in coral reef fisheries has been limited, despite the presence of highly engaged communities, a legacy of customary marine tenure with a legal pathway that has existed for over 20 years, and significant support from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This dissertation research traces how fisheries management and marine tenure have changed from Hawaiian Kingdom Era through present day, including how co-management emerged at the community level in Hawai‘i and the barriers faced during planning and implementation. This dissertation research also examines some different ways communities have partnered with the State of Hawai‘i outside of formal co-management relationships, and concludes by critically examining the role of leadership throughout these governance transitions. The results reveal the importance of historical context in shaping institutional design; which events precipitate self-organization and collective action at the community level; how the distributions of costs and benefits at different stages of the policy cycle can affect incentives to engage in co-management; how fragmented authority complicates integrated co-management; and the salience of collective leadership in co-management settings. The findings from this dissertation have implications for fisheries co-management specifically, and more generally, collaborative environmental planning and management in a variety of settings worldwide.engurban planningenvironmental planningco-managementcommon-pool resourcesmixed methodsqualitative researchcase studyfisheriesgovernancecollaborationnatural resource managementinstitutional analysisinstitutional analysis and designleadershipemergencetransaction costsThesis