During the last 50 years, several different forms of fisheries governance have been tried and failed in the Cochin Estuary, Kerala, India. The latest shift has been from a community-based system to a co- management system, and this paper evaluates the current system in the light of the theoretical debate over the respective merits of community-based management and co-management. The paper is based on documentary material and data from interviews carried out during fieldwork in 2004, from which it concludes that provided the co-management system incorporates community principles within it, it will be an effective form of fisheries governance.