Use of fisheries resources for subsistence by rural populations is becoming an increasingly controversial issue in industrialized societies. Alaska is the only state which has enacted a law to provide for subsistence uses of renewable natural resources by both natives and nonnatives. The legal context of subsistence allocation and management is governed by both state and federal laws that currently ascribe subsistence rights only to rural Alaskan residents. These laws also provide priority allocation of fish and wildlife to subsistence users over other uses if harvest reductions are necessary to maintain viable fish and wildlife populations. Subsistence serves a variety of social, economic, and cultural functions in the lifestyles of Alaskan residents, including kinship cohesion, in-kind supplements to income, and maintenance of important ceremonial activities. Great Lakes fisheries managers are intimately familiar with the values and meanings associated with commercial and recreational uses of Great Lakes fisheries resources. They have relied on this knowledge successfully to design programs responsive to the needs of commercial and recreational users. Subsistence use of Great Lakes fisheries resources, however, constitutes a separate set of values that needs to be acknowledged and actively managed. Implications of the Alaskan experience for Great Lakes fisheries management include the need to identify the nature and extent of subsistence use of fisheries resources in the Great Lakes region and the importance of an impact assessment framework for evaluating the effects of specific policies and management actions on subsistence uses.