This study assesses the sustainability of fisheries of Lamon Bay in the Philippines and investigates the effectiveness of fishery conservation policies. It finds that current policies are failing and that a substantial investment would be required to ensure full compliance with current regulations. It also finds that the benefits of achieving high levels of compliance would exceed costs by only a tiny margin. It concludes that current regulations to deal with overfishing are neither cost-effective nor address the underlying problems of overexploitation of fish stocks and open access to fishing areas. The study suggests that a tradable quota system may provide one answer to the problem and outlines government policies that would back up such an approach.