This is an editorial note for the special issue: Strong User Rights in Fisheries (SURFs). SURFs are rights that constitute a subset of the wider category of rights in fisheries. Being held by the existing operators in the fishery, SURFs may be more acceptable than other fisheries rights. The special issue contains eight (8) papers addressing various issues concerning SURFs such as the theoretical and analytical properties of SURFs, empirical verification of SURF theory, case studies of the impacts of SURFs and challenges to achieve agreements in international fisheries required for the establishment of SURFs.