Those who are involved with fishing and fisheries resource management—including fishermen, their communities, production, processing, distribution, and marketing industries, and various government and non-governmental organizations—confront the contradictions arising from the appropriation, allocation, and distribution of fisheries and marine resources in a variety of ways. The authors call into question the assumptions of policy prescriptions to common resource problems by examining the experiences of people and societies confronted with and adapting to these resource appropriation, allocation, and distribution problems. They suggest that tragedies of resource depletion and institutional failure to deal with them are not characteristic of human nature, but rather are by products of particular cultural practices, institutions, and assumptions. The detailed, empirical ethnographic study of these relationships holds great potential for informing those who are making future policy decisions as well as contributing to the theories of human behavior and cooperation to solve such problems.

This publication contains the report of a workshop, held in Zambia in October 2002, organised to consider the role of commercial aquaculture in helping to secure poverty alleviation through the promotion of regional economic growth, employment opportunities and food security. Recommendations made include the need for clear national policies for commercial aquaculture development, defining models for economic and financial viability assessments to be applied by funding institutions, and disseminating research findings to farmers and information sharing at all levels of aquaculture development.