4 

 has been done already. This simply is not true. In short, in 

 order to give fisheries managers the kind of information they 

 need, a lot of theoretical work needs to be done. 



In this respect, the problems fisheries economists face 

 are very different from those faced by other social scientists 

 involved in fisheries research. They have a body of theory 

 already, and many of their most acute problems at this stage do 

 concern data collection. 



Social scientists, of course, have hundreds of concepts 

 and ideas which could be applied to understanding coastal communi- 

 ties and fisheries management. But it is critical to realize 

 that very few of them have been applied as of yet. Under these 

 conditions, the present ability of social scientists to aid in 

 fisheries management efforts is minimal. There is no way to 

 apply information we do not have. We cannot solve problems v.'e 

 do not understand. 



This means that the most practical thing social scientists 

 can do at this point is to gain an understanding of basic social 

 and cultural features of fishing communities which are essential 

 for understanding problems of fisheries management. We will 

 discuss these features at length later in the paper. 



II Integration Problems 



Implicit in the concept of OSY is the idea that the 

 economic, biological and socio-cultural data should be integrated 

 and not treated as separate entities. Management plans based on 





