Modern fisheries management strategies, such as closed areas and seasons, quality of catch and gear restrictions, have not yielded the expected and desired results in the small islands of the Caribbean, the Lesser Antilles. Even though the commercial, nearshore, demersal and reef resources are fully exploited or overfished, little or no effort is being made to observe or enforce current management regulations. This paper examines the approach and application of community-based management as a strategy for resolving the ‘commons problem’ created by the open access fisheries of the Lesser Antilles. Fishing is primarily artisanal, with fishermen operating from small boats utilizing relatively simple gear consisting mainly of fish traps, handlines, trolling lines, gill nets, beach seine, trammel nets and longlines. Larger boats with highly specialized equipment are being introduced in the area through foreign vessels, mainly from Taiwan and USA, which are targeting specific species such as swordfish and tuna. Only archaeological evidence remain of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles, who were exterminated by the colonialists. Thus indigenous fisheries management practices have to be rediscovered. In the relatively short history of the recent arrivals to the Caribbean, there are no records of a formal tradition of community involvement in the management of natural resources. There are examples, however, of fishermen acknowledging traditional rights to marine space and observing unwritten rules and regulations concerning conservation from other islands in the Caribbean. Attempts should be made to build on this tradition and to introduce and encourage community-based management on an experimental pilot scale basis in the Lesser Antilles. National fisheries management bodies will have to change their functions in that they will now provide advice and technical assistance to the holders of the exclusive-use rights, who will manage the resource in conjunction with the diverse interest groups of the coastal community.