A brief review of marine fishery development in Southeast Asia is given, with emphasis on the phase of rapid growth of catches that prevailed in the 1960s-1970s, and on the high expectations this phase generated, especially in the six countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The problems of the 1980s are related to stagnating or even declining catches and serious environmental problems in coastal populations. Environmental interventions (e.g. construction of artificial reefs; replanting of seagrasses and mangroves; conducting environmentally benign forms of coastal aquaculture; etc.) are proposed as necessary complements to any fishery-management or pollution-control scheme.