The provincial decision (4260/2005/QD-UBND) stipulates that the Provincial People's Committee delegates power to the District to allocate fishing rights to Fisheries Associations (including aquaculture) at the grassroots level.

As receivers of the fishing rights, there have to be well-organized and well-functioning Fisheries Associations, that are able to successfully manage the fisheries activities and natural resources in the lagoon. To assist the process of establishing and/or strengthening the local fisheries associations for co-management, the IMOLA project has been supporting a series of activities including awareness raising, community mobilization and enhancement, establishment of FA Executive Board and sub-groups, creation of FA charter (bylaws), coordination with Commune People's Committee and the Provincial FA, formal inaguration of the FAs, demarcation of FA areas and restricted areas, development of resource management strategies, regulations, and work plans, and capacity building for co-management.

The IMOLA Project currenly covers 20 FAs in 7 communes, namely Quang Cong, Hai Duong, Vinh Hien, Loc Binh, Loc Dien, Loc Tri, and Phu Loc Town.

In four out of seven target communes, one FA had been established before the initiation of the activities. These were Quang Cong, Hai Duong, Vinh Hien, and Loc Binh. However, only one of these four FAs had in fact been operating with a certain degree of success. Besides, the existence of one FA did not necessarily mean that there was no further need for establishing additional FAs as one FA only did not cover the entire geopraphic areas or all fisheries activities in the communes. In all pilot communes, local peole as well as authorities expressed the need for additional FAs that encompass either unattended activities or geographic areas.

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