Community fisheries management (CFM) has been introduced in fisheries management in Vanuatu almost over a decade ago. However, more than ten years later, for some reason, it appeared weak, inefficient and biologically unsustainable. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to describe and compare the actual form of CFM system in Vanuatu with the Arnason design principles to identify where the deviations reside and on that basis suggest future improvements in the Vanuatu CFM.