ABSTRACT
This is an almost perfect example of top-down, “blueprint” planning and its results. Impoverished and poorly educated fishermen were invited to take on the joint ownership of boats that were much too large for their needs, too technologically advanced, and too expensive (because built in government boat yards). As cooperative boat owners, these fishermen were also brought into a marketing co-op which provided them with an ice plant, insulated vans, and a repair workshop, all supposedly under their own management. Because it was so large, the marketing cooperative included leaders who were also fish merchants, whose personal interests conflicted with those of the co-op itself
In every possible way, the government imposed an organization which was unsuited, and even harmful, to the fishermen’s needs. The scheme was too large and complex for hard-working fishermen to control, and it was run according to bureaucratic rules laid down by the state government. As a result, the workshop was never open when it was needed, since the staff worked as if they were government employees; and the ice plant was built with defective and obsolete machinery. Eventually, 24 out of 50 boats were auctioned off, reflecting the poor choice of technology imposed by the government. As with other fishing cooperatives promoted and controlled by the state, this one ran continuously at a loss and closed down after about a decade.
