The focus of this paper is on the role of social and cultural variables in the development of the small-scale fishery in West Africa. The small-scale marine fisheries of West Africa province approximately 70% of the total marine production of West Africa, ranging from a low of about 30% in Ivory Coast to 99% in Guinea. Practically all of the small-scale fisherman's catch is consumed locally, thus providing an important, high quality protein input to a population where the overall per-capita consumption of fish is about twice as much as that for red meat. Further, the small-scale fishery provides employment for about one-quarter of a million fishermen not including the many women and men involved in processing distribution, retailing of the catch.