Fisheries Resource Utilization and Policy: Proceedings of the World Fisheries Congress, Theme 2

The first World Fisheries Congress was held in Athens in 1992. It was divided into plenary sessions and thematic sessions.
One of the ideas that was common throughout the plenary and thematic sessions of this Congress is that we know far more about “managing” fisheries than we do about “managing” fishers. On the face of it, this presents an especially dismal prospect, given the many examples of fisheries near or at the point of collapse. Yet, there is some reason for optimism, however guarded. The papers that comprise the Theme 2 volume provide some of that optimism, in that they reflect an active and deepening interest in identifying, analyzing, and solving the problems of managing the human side of the issue – the social science equation.
To provide a complete record of the deliberations of Theme 2 of the Congress, two the theme overview and the plenary address by Peter Pearse, which appeared in the plenary-session volume, are reprinted here.