Cost bene®t analysis of ®sheries management plans T. CHANGEUX Conseil Supe Ârieur de la PeÃche (CSP), Direction GeÂne Ârale, Paris, France F. BONNIEUX & C. ARMAND Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Unite  d'e Âconomie et Sociologie Rurale, Rennes, France Abstract The management of freshwater ®sheries in France is generally entrusted to angling associations, which are in turn grouped into departmental federations. These associations, act under State supervision to protect the aquatic environment and develop recreational ®sheries. The National Fishing Council has developed a general method for the formulation of departmental ®shery management plans. More than half the departments of France have been involved in this programme since 1995. The approach focuses on the potential number of adult wild ®sh in each homogeneous ecological unit called a `context'. The cost of any rehabilitation work needed to restore habitat and to place the context under self-sustaining management (called `patrimonial management') is estimated. Examples of the way in which cost-bene®t analysis helps determine the economic viability of management plans are drawn from the Indre and HeÂrault, two departments with contrasting ecological and ®shery situations. The analysis takes into account the value of wild ®sh in relation to stocked ®sh. KEYWORDS : cost bene®t analysis, habitat restoration, management plan, recreational ®sheries, stocking. Introduction In France, the right to ®sh in fresh waters belongs to whoever owns the adjoining land (State or private owner). The owners have a responsibility for ®sheries management and carries with it obligation to set up a local management plan (article L. 233±3 of French Rural Code). The private owner, or the State generally delegates rights over the recreational ®shery to one of the 4200 authorized angling associations, which is then in charge of managing the ®shery. These associations are grouped into departmental federations, which have two main remits. Firstly, they work on the development of angling, to reduce the decline in participation observed across the country (Jantzen 1998). Secondly, according to the Fishing Law of (1984) they are in charge of the protection and enhancement of the Correspondence: T. Changeux, Conseil SupeÂrieur de la PeÃche (CSP), Direction GeÂneÂrale, Service Technique, 134, Avenue de Malako, F-75116 Paris, France (e-mail: thomas.changeux@csp-paris.environnement.gouv.fr) Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2001, 8, 425±434 Ó 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd 425