Monitoring must be considered within the broader context of fisheries management, which in turn is a part of a mosaic of multiple ocean and natural resource uses, including environmental conservation. Monitoring has a role to play in all aspects of fisheries management, including those related to the sustainable management of the resource, the economic performance of the fishery and the distribution of benefits from the exploitation of the resource and use of the environment. An immense challenge faced by management is that of finding cost-effective monitoring methods. Given its multiple roles, resources must be allocated to monitoring against competing but often related needs from other management related activities such as licensing, planning and legislation, policy formulation, marketing, surveillance and enforcement and research. This paper examines the challenges of fisheries monitoring and the extent to which solutions lie in (i) finding appropriate fisheries management models and plans, (ii) understanding the fishers motivation for compliance, and (iii) technical solutions.