Voodoo versus fishing committees: The role of traditional and contemporary institutions in fisheries management

•In Benin fishing activities were traditionally regulated by the Voodoo religion.•Voodoo fishers are still less likely to use traditionally prohibited fishing gear.•Recently created fishing committees implemented new, alternative rules for fishing.•Fishers respect one of these new rules to some extent, but freeriding is a problem.•Once Voodoo fishers break the traditional rule, they appear to shift to this new rule.

We study the co-existence of two community-based institutions for fisheries management in Benin: a traditional institution embedded in the Voodoo religion and a recent secular institution in the form of fishing committees. Using household survey data on fishing activities, we find that rules of both institutions have a statistically significant but small impact on the use of unsustainable fishing gear. We further find that Voodoo fishers who break the traditional Voodoo-based rule follow the fishing committee rule to the same extent as other fishers. This finding is consistent with a possible transition from the traditional Voodoo-based institution to the secular fishing committee institution. More research is needed to fully assess the effectiveness of, and interactions between, the two institutions.