The continuation of family-based Artisanal fisheries is at risk in the context of neo-liberal globalization. Neo-liberal approaches favour rationalized economic models of governance in which individualized property, rationalized modes of production and concentrated ownership are prioritize over locality-based modes of harvest and governance. Drawing upon a decade an a half of field research with fishers from the Bigouden region in Brittany, France this paper considers the neo-liberal arguments of efficiency and rationality as a mechanism of fisheries governance. In this paper we consider the following questions: What aspects of neo-liberalism benefit community-based fisheries? What aspects undermine these fisheries? And, ultimately, is there a future for artisanal fishing communities in the era of neo-liberal gloabalization?