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In small‐scale fisheries, there can be no more vulnerable participants than those comprising the subsistence fishing sector. Yet “subsistence” is an ambiguous term in fisheries management and there is little applied research directed at this sector. The first step towards incorporating subsistence fishing into formal strategies for managing small‐scale fisheries will be the attainment of a fuller understanding of subsistence fishermen and their activities. This article builds off earlier work by the authors (surveying conceptual variation in the literature and worldwide attempts at formal management regimes for subsistence fishing) by reporting on field efforts to locate and define subsistence fishing activities in a specific location—Rhode Island, USA. Substantial methodological and institutional challenges were encountered and these challenges are reviewed in terms of the implications for informed consideration of the place of subsistence fishing in small‐scale fisheries.

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