ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the state of the art of fisheries management from the vantage point of a natural resource economist. It describes the objectives of fishery management, with emphasis on the need to couple biological objectives to economic and social concerns. By long tradition, fishermen throughout the world regard the right to go fishing as one of fundamental, almost religious, significance, despite the overwhelming evidence that the right of everyone to go fishing freely inevitably results in the erosion of the value of such rights. Fisheries are subject to wide variations in yields as a result of changes in the complex marine environment. These changes in yield-effort relations may reflect changes in the total number of fish; their accessibility; and catchability. The inherent uncertainty about available supplies of fish and the resulting instability of operating costs for fishing ventures are accentuated by the difficulty and cost of developing reliable data.
