The historical and current importance of inshore fisheries to the livelihoods and development of coastal communities is simply undeniable, inshore fisheries have played a role as a stable and reliable provider of food, resources and employment for a long time. Steps towards ensuring the future of inshore fisheries are clearly required. Research on governance undertaken within the GIFS project helped to record and understand the different management frameworks and approaches that exist across the Channel and southern North Sea and the way that inshore fishing is incorporated into these, the “Inshore fisheries, too important to ignore?” Position Paper covers all these research findings.