Fish and other marine resources have long provided a substantial portion of the food consumed by humans. Fishing societies have developed a number of institutions to reduce the risks of fishing. Today a high percentage of stocks are overfished. Anthropologists have described a number of cases where stocks have been well managed at the local level. They have also investigated a number of ways to improve management. Aquaculture promises to provide a vastly increased proportion of seafood eaten by humans in the near future.