Coral reef management has focused traditionally on the biophysical aspects of coral reefs - the corals, other benthos, fishes and the physics and chemistry of surrounding waters. Today reefs are coming under increasing pressures from human activities .

"In order to improve the effectiveness of current marine conservation efforts and coral reef management, it is necessary for coastal managers and related stakeholders to understand the cultural, economic, and social dimensions of people's relationships with coral reef resources. Useful socioeconomic information is needed to improve and comprehensively enhance coral reef management and conservation. Through socioeconomic monitoring, management will identify the degree of importance that coral and related marine resources have for the livelihood of local communities, the purposes and rates of use of different resources, and the potential social, cultural and economic impacts to the local communities if the resources are degraded or damaged. In Thailand, while it is recognized that socioeconomic information is useful for adaptive management and sustainable use of resources, the lack of local capacity for conducting socioeconomic monitoring in a systematic way, like that afforded by SocMon, was identified as a major problem for which this project attempted to address"--Page 1.

The major objective of this socioeconomic manual is to provide a tool that assists fisheries authorities and others in the Pacific region to obtain data that supports informed management decision-making aimed at sustainable, effective and equitable use of reef and lagoon resources. This manual provides a guide on how to collect socioeconomic data to characterise the role that reef and lagoon resources play in supporting the livelihood of coastal communities, i.e. by answering the following 10 important questions: 1. What are the major socioeconomic characteristics of the community? 2. How much does the community depend on marine resources for consumption, income, and livelihood? 3. How much is fished by whom? 4. What is harvested and where is the catch taken from? 5. What does the community do with the catch? 6. What is the total catch worth at local market prices? 7. What are the fishing strategies 1 used? 8. What gender issues apply? 9. How does the community keep the fish (preservation and stocks)? 10. What knowledge is there of fisheries management rules (traditional and governmental)?