Co-management institutions have generally been limited to implementation and have not extended user participation to include the knowledge basis for management decisions. This paper discusses some of the fundamental problems involved if such an extension were to be developed. One set of problems relate to the alienation of the immediate users from the formalised research knowledge which generally is used as the knowledge basis for mainstream modern fisheries management due to the different scales of observation used by formalised research and the immediate resource users and the requirement for predictability which is inherent in many modern management implementations. This set of problems may be reduced through the use of indicators of pressures and state of the resource system which are based on softer predictability requirements and accommodate aspects of local knowledge. Another set of problems relate to the different perceptions of stakeholders where a distinction is made between specific knowledge which is used to guide local management decisions and more generalised information which is used to compare across resource systems as required to monitor compliance with international agreements or for the use of market based instruments such as green labelling. Awareness and transparency regarding these problems is a prerequisite for development of participatory management systems which are extended to include knowledge aspects. Danida/WFC/IFM research project EU INCO-DEV research programme Unpublished