ABSTRACT
Malaysia's marine fishing industry has “historically [been] among the 10 or 15 largest in the world” (World Bank 1982, p. i). Research on this industry provides the sole exception to the general lack of a substantial body of economic literature on natural resource management in Malaysia. A special 1976 issue of Kajian Ekonomi Malaysia, the journal of the Malaysian Economic Association, was devoted to issues related to fisheries development. A bibliography included in that special double issue listed more than 500 references. In the nearly two decades since, the literature has continued to grow. A major monograph on the economics of fisheries development in the states of Pulau Pinang and Kedah was published two years later (Munro and Chee 1978). More recently, Ooi (1990) and Jomo (1991) provided excellent monographs covering the whole of Peninsular Malaysia. As with most other aspects of the country's economic development, the literature is thinner for Sabah and Sarawak. No monograph has yet been written on the fisheries sector in either state.
