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The rational use of marine coastal resources is a priority for the Pacific Islands. Emphasis has often been placed on the development of a commercial structured fishing sector based on the specialization of the means of production and fishing techniques for catching a small range of high commercial value species. After ten years and often more of fishing development in the Pacific Islands this policy can be deemed to have been a failure in many cases. The reasons of this failure can be found in the lack of adaptation of the development programmes to the socio-economic and cultural constraints inherent to village communities and to ecological constraints inherent to the Pacific islands coastal marine environment. Contrary to commercial structured fishing, the traditionnal village fishing is completely adapted to these constraints, mainly in terms of producion modes and resource management. These different topics are discussed through the example of Vanuatu and some propositions are made for the integration of traditional practices in modern coastal resources development programmes. (Résumé d'auteur)