The increasingly important roles of the fishery and aquaculture industries in the Third World are summarized in this briefing paper, which also reviews past and current fishery development efforts by A.I.D. and other donors. A short introduction reviews the special importance of fish in developing countries, A.I.D. fishery assistance (which has focused primarily on aquaculture), and the major research and policy themes that emerged from the World Fisheries Conference held in Rome in 6/84; the need to improve developing nation management of marine fish stocks is highlighted. Next, A.I.D.'s fisheries projects (conducted since the 1950's, with the majority since 1976) are listed according to country, area, and project number; the fisheries and aquaculture portfolio of A.I.D.'s Bureau of Science and Technology is also briefly described. The following information is then presented in graph or list form: world commercial catch by leading fishing countries (1974-82); world catch, ranked by country (1982); the top 20 species caught during 1982; fisheries support according to donor and recipient country (1976 to present); and donor activities in fisheries (including recipient country, activity, funding, donor, and duration).