On 10 June 2014, at the 31st Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI 31) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 143 Members States adopted the first international instrument dedicated to defending and promoting small-scale fisheries.
The instrument takes the form of Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Alleviation (VG SSF).
The Committee’s Chair dedicated the instrument to Chandrika Sharma in recognition of her tireless work, leadership and immense contribution to developing the instrument. Chandrika Sharma, the Executive Secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), disappeared aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which went missing on 8 March. She was on her way to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to attend the 32nd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia.
Sid Ahmed Abeid, President of the National Artisanal Fishermen’s Federation of Mauritania (FNP), called it a historic day for artisanal fisheries. We have fought hard for this for many years he said, and today marks an important landmark victory. For the organizations representing small-scale fisheries around the world, the victory has a bitter-sweet taste. The loss of Chandrika Sharma has been a tragic blow, but her name and contribution will live on in the new instrument.
For over six years, a platform of civil society organizations (CSOs) has been actively engaged with FAO and its Member States to develop this instrument. These organizations include the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP), the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fishworkers (WFF), the International Planning Committee on Food Sovereignty (IPC), and the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF). Together, the two World Forums represent around 70 community-based organizations of small-scale fishers from Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The new instrument is global in scope, and applies to small-scale fisheries in all contexts, but with a specific focus on the needs of small-scale fishing communities in developing countries. We all belong to the same family, and are fighting for the same rights, said Naseegh Jaffer of WFFP. Whether in the North or South, small-scale fisheries are the largest and most sustainable segment of the world’s fishery sector, he said, and the Guidelines apply to us all.
Editrudith Lukanga from WFF explained that the Guidelines are comprehensive and deal, in one instrument, with all significant aspects of small-scale fisheries and fishing communities within a human-rights perspective. These Guidelines will support the visibility, recognition and enhancement of small-scale fisheries and fishing communities in the context of eradicating hunger and poverty. The Guidelines will contribute significantly to effectively addressing numerous challenges and constraints facing small-scale fishing communities around the world.
Whilst this is an important victory to celebrate, there are significant challenges ahead for small-scale fisheries organizations, Member States and FAO to ensure the full implementation of this new instrument.
For more information, contact: Brian O’Riordan (briano@scarlet.be), Secretary, Belgium Office, ICSF
Notes:
Approximately 90% of the 140 mn people engaged in fisheries globally work in the small-scale fisheries sector, predominantly in the Global South. These small-scale fisher people catch half of the world’s total catches by volume and provide over 60% of the fish destined for direct human consumption. For each fisher-person in the small-scale sector, at least four other people are engaged in related land-based activities, such as the preparation of equipment, fish processing, and marketing. In total, more than half a billion people are estimated to depend on fisheries for their livelihoods. As a family-based activity, fishing makes a direct contribution to household food security, where women play a particularly important role both as the link with the market and as the provider of food in the household. An international instrument could help to ensure that this sector is given the security and recognition it deserves.
WFFP assures the involvement of 36 community-based organizations in 24 countries and territories, namely, (in Africa) Benin, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Sierra Leone; (in the Americas) Canada and Honduras; (in Asia) Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia; (in Europe) France, Spain, Martinique and Guadalupe; and (in the Pacific region) New Zealand.
WFF assures the involvement of 30 community-based organizations in 30 countries and territories, namely, (in Africa) Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia and Kenya; (in Asia) China and India; (in Europe) Faroe Islands, France, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Portugal; (in Latin America) Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Perù and Venezuela; and (in North America) Canada, Mexico and the USA.
ICSF is an international member-based NGO with a mission to support fishing communities and fishworker organizations, and empower them to participate in fisheries from a perspective of decent work, equity, gender-justice, self-reliance and sustainability.
IPC supports around 800 organizations representing more than 300 mn small-scale food producers.
ICSF 2014