The general wisdom around fishing dependent communities in the Third World has labelled them as the poorest and most vulnerable people, and fishing has being characterised as the 'last resort activity' in rural regions. Poverty has been closely related to communities engaged in small-scale fishing operations. In the light of these general assumptions, this thesis attempts to address the issue of poverty and livelihoods in two contrasting fishing dependent communities in coast of Oaxaca, Mexico: an indigenous community -San Mateo del Mar, and a mestizo communityPuerto Angel. For this, I carried out an extensive survey as well as participatory techniques to capture the vision that the labelled as 'poor' have about their assets and livelihood strategies, and the determinants (social, cultural and institutional) to command these assets and livelihoods. The results show that both communities are highly differentiated by wealth groups characterised by distinct livelihood strategies. Fishers in Puerto Angel have more diversified opportunities for livelihood in contrast to San Mateo del Mar, which economy relies almost exclusively in fishing. The analysis emphasises the key-role of the institutional arrangements in the use of natural resources, as well as the cultural issues that create and reproduce the conditions of poverty and marginalisation in these communities. The thesis concludes that the poverty conditions observed in both communities are more closely related to cultural factors as well as the social dynamic inside the villages than the fisheries resources, which constitute the principal activity in Puerto Angel and San Mateo del Mar