Managing Canada's Fisheries is Joseph Gough's wide-ranging survey of commercial fishery management in Canada from before Confederation to the twenty-first century. From the years between Confederation and WWI, when travelling royal commissions wrote regulations for scores of fisheries and set up a Fisheries Research Board, to the later part of the twentieth century, with its federal fishery closures and assistance programs for groundfish fisherman and processors, Gough pinpoints key events in the industry's long history. Recurring themes include the contrast between development and conservation, and the effort and dedication that has gone into fisheries management from the beginning. Interviews with noted figures on both coasts - Wilfred Templeman, Joey Smallwood, Alfred Needler, Jimmy Sewid, Homer Stevens, Cliff Levelton - bring the study to life.

Fishery management involves considering multiple factors - environment, conservation, science, economic and social values, politics, and sovereignty - variables that affect one another in complex ways that make it difficult to offer final judgements on the consequences of management actions. By researching the broad picture of Canadian fisheries management, Joseph Gough has provided a guide to the difficult and unremitting struggle to protect fishery resources and use them responsibly - essential at a time when an industry that once defined our country is in a state of crisis.