Protected areas are no longer seen as "islands" of nature and tranquility surrounded by a "sea" of incompatible uses, but are a part of a broader regional approach to land and sea management. Local people should not be excluded a priori from protected areas. this is the case of Port-Cros nationla park: artisanal fishing (i.e. small-scale commercial fishing) is authorised in most of the area, though subject to additionnal constraints to those enforce by the general legislation (wider mesh size, limited amount of gear per fiher, time for the setting and removal of gear, restrictions on the use of hooks, long-lining included, prohibition of trawling, etc...). In the Mediterranean, recreationnal fishing and artisanal fishing may be significant. At Port-Cros, spear fishing is banned and angling partly prohibited, wich can releive the total (recreationnal+artisanal) fishing pressure on the fish stock. The benthic ecosystems of the Port-Cros national park are healthy and species diversity is high. As far as artisanal fishing is concerned, fishing effort and fish yield cannot be considered as lower at Port-Cros than in non-protected areas. Overall, it seems that there is no negative interaction between biodiversity conservation and artisanal fishing (at least in the way it is practised).