A large-scale economic and social analysis of the commercial, domestic, and sport fisheries of the Ontario portion (247,000 hectares) of Lake of the Woods was undertaken in 1980–1982. Data were collected through surveys of Indian bands, commercial fishermen, local residents and cottagers, tourist operators, and tourist guests. Direct revenues and costs of commercial and sportfishing enterprises and of the resource management agency were estimated; domestic harvests were valued on a substitution valuation basis; and anglers' consumer surplus was valued on a contingent valuation basis. Social benefits were assessed on the basis of anecdotal information collected. Economic responses to changes in harvests were predicted, employing users' predictions of their behavioral changes in the case of the sport fisheries. As harvests were exceeding sustainable yields, four alternative allocations of the sustainable yield among user groups were identified, and the economic and social impacts and management implications of each alternative were estimated. The results were arrayed to allow decision makers and members of the public to employ their own total value frameworks in making allocation and management decisions. However, for various reasons, some inherent in social science research for resource management agencies, the study was not used to its potential as a decision-making tool after completion.