SOME TENTATIVE IMPRESSIONS ARE DERIVED FROM AVAILABLE, SCATTERED LITERATURE CONCERNING THE FISHERIES POTENTIAL OF CORAL REEFS AND ADJACENT SHALLOW ENVIRONMENTS. THE STANDING CROP OF FISH POPULATIONS ON REEFS IS VERY HIGH, SOMETIMES AS MUCH AS FIVE TO FIFTEEN TIMES HIGHER THAN CROPS ON REPRESENTATIVE NORTH ATLANTIC FISHING GROUNDS AND TWICE THE AVERAGE STANDING CROP TYPICAL OF TEMPERATE LAKES, BUT OBVIOUSLY THE REEF CROP IS COMPRISED OF MANY FORMS DEPENDENT ON SURROUNDING AREAS. HARVESTS FROM FOUR ISLAND FISHERIES ON REEFS AND THEIR SURROUNDING RANGE FROM 0.5 TO 5.0 GRAMS WET WEIGHT PER SQUARE METER PER YEAR. YIELD PER UNIT EFFORT MAY REACH 5000 KG/MAN/YEAR. ALTHOUGH THE STANDING CROP AND HARVESTS MAY BE SUBSTANTIAL AROUND THE REEFS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FISHERIES IS ENCUMBERED BY THE DIVERSITY OF THE SPECIES, THE RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF SMALL FISHES, AND THE RESTRICTION IMPOSED ON GEAR BY THE ENVIRONMENT. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION AND A LACK OF SUBSTANTIVE WORK ON THE SUSTAINED YIELDS THAT MIGHT BE HARVESTED FROM REEF ENVIRONMENTS WHICH ARE NOTABLY PRODUCTIVE BUT CLOSED ECOSYSTEMS. THE POSSIBILITY THAT YIELDS MAY BE ENHANCED WHEN THE TROPHIC PATHWAYS BECOME RECHANNELED WITHIN THE ECOSYSTEM IN RESPONSE TO A FISHERY MERITS FURTHER CONSIDERATION. MANAGEMENT SCHEMES TO PREVENT RESOURCE DEPLETION SHOULD BE THE FOCUS OF FURTHER STUDY.