This thesis presents a case study of Solomon Islands to address the overarching question: do locally managed marine areas contribute to sustainable small scale fisheries and what are the implications for food security? This research found that periodically harvested closures were the main form of management employed by communities with LMMAs. It was found that periodically harvested closures can achieve at least short term benefits by bolstering catch rates of invertebrates, and leading to catches with slightly larger fish in some species. However, harvesting during periodic harvests was intense and there was evidence that this led to substantial localized depletion of invertebrate stocks. Further, as local social and economic needs (rather than ecological knowledge and indicators) often drive decisions to open areas to harvest, the short term benefits may be threatened by rising demand, and heavier and more frequent fishing events in the medium to long term. Achieving nation-wide sustainable fisheries management will require marine resource governance to be comprehensive and widespread, requiring more than the currently localized small scale advances.