Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) are critical to global food security, livelihoods, and cultural heritage. As one of the oldest forms of wild harvesting, SSFs can support sustainable practices through the self-organization of fishers. Yet, global market integration and environmental change reshape fishers’ incentives, influencing behaviors like cooperation and coping. Understanding and quantifying these behaviors is key to fostering the sustainability and resilience of SSFs. I employ social science methods to investigate cooperation and coping in SSFs quantitatively. In my first chapter, I apply experimental economics to investigate the impact of game experiment designs on measurements of cooperation levels among fisher groups in real-world settings. My second chapter presents a nationwide evaluation of a fisheries co-management policy in Chile, implemented more than two decades ago, to encourage cooperative and sustainable practices among fishing communities. I assess the survival of co-management projects as a measure of success and study its variability across social and ecological conditions. In my third chapter, I study coping responses to fisheries closures triggered by harmful algal blooms in Southern Chile. Using econometric methods, I analyze fishers’ mobility across resources and space, and the influence of market dynamics and management regulations. My research seeks to contribute to more informed and effective fisheries management that considers the complex interplay of incentives, behaviors, and policy outcomes in SSFs.