At a regional level, the socio-economic benefits from rebuilding stocks include protecting a way of life, as well as maintaining employment in coastal communities where few alternatives exist. In this context, stable access to a well managed resource could decrease economic uncertainty and enable fish harvesters to secure access to capital to remain competitive, leading to the production of higher quality, and higher value fish products. The paper is based on an invited plenary lecture to the 2003 ICES Annual Conference and reviews eight case studies of successful and unsuccessful stock rebuilding programs from the US, Canada, New Zealand and the EU.