The authors examined the conditions of successful common property-based management for coastal marine living resources, using a case of historically and anthropologically well established women divers communities on Jeju Island, South Korea, focusing on their decentralized work rules and production records. Since the 1960s, their customary rights to fishing have been institutionalized by relevant national laws. However, since the 1970s, their numbers have declined under new local, national, and global challenges. Due to their tight social network and work rule, the women divers have harvested coastal marine living resources with limited fishing pressure exclusively from their village fishing grounds for over 400 years. Even though the women divers have worked together to improve the habitats for their target seaweeds and have banned the use of scuba diving equipment, their production records show that short-term economic gains play a more significant role than long-term efforts to conserve and protect their marine living resources. Thus, their harvest patterns have been mostly reactive to market prices, eventually requiring direct governmental regulations such as total allowable catch in some cases. Second, there has been limited opportunity for the women divers to understand their village fishing grounds from a scientific perspective. Integrating scientific findings into managerial decisions of the coastal ecosystem is vital for a sustainable marine ecosystem. Third, more lucrative and socially prestigious jobs have been available for women in Jeju, following nation-wide economic development, resulting in significant out-migration of the women from diving work. Fourth, the production of abalone and seaweeds has been declining, attributable to multiple factors. Most recently, the communities have been experiencing multiple challenges: their aging population, water pollution in the coastal zone, competition with cultured products and imported seafood, and expanding barren grounds. These challenges demand a multi-scale/dimensional response if the women divers communities are to keep their village fishing grounds and communities sustainable.