We are pleased to present this special issue of Marine Resource Economics consisting of selected papers from the North American Association of Fisheries Economists (NAAFE) Forum held in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA from May 11 to 13, 2011. The seven selected papers cover a wide range of fisheries economics areas, reflecting the general, yet rather diverse, theme of the Forum “The Economics of Conflict and Co-existence in an Increasingly Crowded Ocean.” We are grateful to the Forum's sponsors, the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR), University of Hawaii at Manoa, and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, for making the Forum a reality. Special thanks also go to Dr. Rita Curtis, NOAA Fisheries, for her generous financial support, which covered the page charges for the issue. Finally, we thank the authors for their contributions, the reviewers for their expert assistance, and Barbara Harrison for her editorial support. We are sure you will enjoy perusing this special issue.