Development of scientific models requires understanding of the ways that professional scientific inquiry is integrated with the ordinary knowledge brought to decision making. The increasing complexity of social and economic issues affecting salmon management has led to an increased demand for analysis by social scientists. Several modeling methods have been used to evaluate projects for maintaining or enhancing stocks of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. and to analyze allocation and conservation policies. Simulation models can give insights into harvest management, decisions on total smolt releases, and effects of river management, but the complexity of the ecological, economic, and social systems places great demands on analysts. Social scientists must recognize that they are not creating information in a vacuum; rather they are adding to, verifying, and correcting a vast amount of common knowledge about fisheries.