Coastal areas play a critical role in the economic development of coun-tries in the Southeast Asian region. The highly productive ecosystems found in these areas help sustain a wide range of diversified economic activities. How-ever, increasing population and rapid economic development make heavy demands on coastal resources, resulting in environmental degradation and resource use conflicts. The latter two are due largely to lack of information on sound uti-lization and proper management of coastal resources. The rational exploitation must be based, therefore, on sustainable utilization, if present and future development opportunities are to be met. Recognizing this need, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) established the Coastal Resources Management Project (CRMP) under the Program of the Working Group on Marine Sciences (WGMS) of its Committee on Science and Technology (COST). The International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM), a nonprofit, nongovernmental research center, was chosen to execute the project in close collaboration with the six participating ASEAN countries: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,. Singapore and Thailand. The immediate objective of the project is to help in the development of improved technical and institutional approaches for managing living coastal resource systems in the ASEAN countries.