This study explores, from a cultural ecology viewpoint, the process of adjustment in fishery production and social life since the Japanese Occupation period (1895-1945) among the inhabitants of Green Island, an isolated island in the Western Pacific off the east coast of Taiwan, under the impact of the outside environment. The research data includes historical documents, field observation, and records of interviews with fishermen. Green Island (Lutao) has an area of approximately 15 square kilometers. It was first opened up some 200 years ago by Han Chinese from southern Taiwan. Due to its remoteness, the islanders initially lived mainly by slash-and-burn agricultural subsistence, eked out with fishing as a secondary activity. They lived a relatively closed social life, and in the early 20 �� century the island became a "fire island" denuded of trees. In 1924 the Japanese set up a skipjack processing plant on the island, thus opening a new era in the island's fishery development. Beginning in 1928 the fishing boats began to be motorized, and fishery became an important part of the islanders' livelihood. Thereafter, as opportunities for contact with the outside world increased, Green Island's fishery industry grew more diversified. Since the skipjack fishing season was restricted to the summer, some of the island's fishermen were hired during the winter months (from autumn to the following spring) to fish at Hsinkang fishing barbor in Taitung, and they brought back the spear-fishing and driving-in net fishing methods. Those who went to Kaohsiung to sell fish products also introduced the long line fishing technique to Green Island. As transportation between Green Island and the main island of Taiwan gradually improved, the island became drawn into a larger social and economic space. Yet despite this reduction in its isolation, the island still failed to shake off its marginal character. Thus, while the island's fishery technology grew increasingly diversified, its agricultural and fishery development was still limited. With the exhaustion of Taiwan's inshore fishery resources in recent years, Green Island's fishing industry has experienced a sharp decline in the 1990s. Fortunately, Taiwan's growing new tourism industry has spurred a rapid rise in tourism to Green Island, and this is set to become the mainstay of Green Island's economy in the future.