Fishermen's compliance with fisheries legislation is influenced by a combination of economic, calculated, normative, and social motivations. Compliance can be enhanced by fishers’ inclusiveness within management directives. Since the 2015 fishing ban on the giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) in Peru, there has been no significant decline in the catch of this protected species. Structured questionnaires were administered to small-scale fishers in two fishing communities in northern Peru, exploring their perspectives and attitudes towards compliance motivations as indicators influencing their non-compliant behaviour. Compliance was mostly hindered due to economic hardship, lack of legitimacy towards authorities driven by corruption and low social influence to comply. The diverging motivations to comply in both communities suggest the engagement of fishermen in fisheries management through local policy changes could lead to increased compliance. This study contributes to understanding fishers’ non-compliant behaviour in fisheries of lower commercial value.