Anthropological Applications in the Management of Federally Managed Fisheries: Context, Institutional History, and Prospectus

1has employed anthropologists and sociologists internally and externally to support fisheries management since 1974, although it used economists earlier; recent expansion of NMFS’ sociocultural analysis effort is generating new initiatives and findings of interest to the wider social science community. This introduction provides the background for this issue through a brief account of past, present, and future directions of this new growth area within applied anthropology. The origins and intent of the special issue are discussed first, followed by the institutional history of the integration of anthropologists and sociologists into fisheries management at NMFS and an outline of NMFS’ developing sociocultural analysis program. Finally, the specific policies and themes addressed in the individual papers are related to broader policy issues and themes within fisheries anthropology and fisheries management.