This Reader is an attempt to give an overall and interdisciplinary view of the research in different fields of the social sciences undertaken by several Brazilian universities aiming to analyse the processes of social change in coastal communities, particularly those of artisanal fishermen. It is a result of papers presented at a series of national workshops called “Social Sciences and the Sea”, organized by the NUPAUB-CEMAR research center of the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil, from 1988 to 1991. The first three articles address conceptual issues concerning the definition of artisanal fishermen and their relationship to other social groups as peasants and industrial-capitalist fishermen. Their main focus is the process of social change that coastal communities have experienced in recent decades. Next set of articles aims at analysing the conflicting relationships between artisanal and commercial/industrial fishing in the Amazonian region. Another set of authors look at traditional knowledge, sea-territoriality and coastal commons. Others look at social and ecological relationships, traditional knowledge and social change.