From ancient times fishing has been a major source of human food and a provider of employment and economic benefits to those engaged in it. These resources are, however, finite and most fisheries are fully or over-exploited due to human population growth. Hence they need to be properly managed if their contribution to nutritional, economic and social well-being of the growing world's population is to be maintained. Conservationists and governments now recognise that top-down approaches to conservation have been insufficient, because they ignored the human and social dimension of natural resource management (Pomeroy, 1995). Together with experiences from rural development and conceptualisation of 'sustainable development', this has spawned a movement in conservation away from reliance on protection and enforcement. The new approaches place more emphasis on sustainable utilisation of resources and the involvement of local people and other stakeholders directly in conservation decision making processes (Jones, 1996).