Small-scale and artisanal fisheries contribute about half of global fish catches and employ millions of people. They are often rooted in local communities, providing food security and nutrition, reducing poverty. At a time of great environmental crises, small-scale fisheries provide hope. Yet their interests and contributions are often overlooked.
This gap was finally filled in 2014 in a watershed moment: the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) endorsed the ‘Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication’ (SSF Guidelines). It is the only international instrument dedicated to small-scale fisheries. This set of guidelines directs policy, from the local to the international levels, to support and promote the sub-sector.
The SSF Guidelines provide representation to the marginalized. For their secure tenure over fishing resources and space; for decent conditions of work; for the social development of fishing communities; gender equity and equality; for balancing universal human rights while respecting local conditions and traditions.
It resulted from a long-drawn democratic campaign. In the 1980s, small groups of fishers began voicing their concerns about the social and environmental crisis caused by industrial fishing across developing countries. They began collaborating. ICSF resulted from such partnerships.
The Rio declaration of 1992 had recognized the rights of traditional fishers and their contributions. In 1995 FAO adopted the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF). It recognized the contributions of artisanal fisheries, recommending their preferential access to fishing resources. FAO organized its first global conference of small-scale fisheries in Thailand in 2008.
Thereafter, several workshops hosted over 4,000 participants from 120 nations. In 2011, FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI) recommended an international legal instrument to safeguard the rights of small-scale, artisanal fishers. The next two years were a participatory effort to create a consensus and agree on a final text. The SSF Guidelines were endorsed in June, 2014. The challenge now is for all stakeholders to implement the SSF Guidelines.
For more information, visit https://sites.google.com/site/ssfguidelines/home and https://sites.google.com/site/smallscalefisheries/
Asia Workshop: IYAFA 2022-Celebrating Sustainable and Equitable Small-scale Fisheries
The Asia workshop is to strengthen the recognition of small-scale fisheries’ crucial contributions to global food security and nutrition, the importance of tenure rights in the sector, and social development. The workshop is an opportunity to take stock of how the SSF Guidelines are being implemented in Asia to eradicate poverty, ensure food security and nutrition, and promote the tenure rights of small-scale fishing communities. The workshop will include 45 participants from community-based organizations, national fishworkers’ organizations, women in fisheries networks, and civil society organizations from 11 South and Southeast Asian countries - including Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. For more: https://www.icsf.net/resources/asia-workshop-iyafa-2022-celebrating-sustainable-and-equitable-small-scale-fisheries/The new phase complements the completed project in 9 countries especially to train indigenous youth in Brazil, to animate national platforms of small-scale fisheries actors in Ghana, to raise awareness about the SSF Guidelines among small-scale fisheries actors, to establish linkages with other small-scale fisheries initiatives in Nigeria that are working in partnership with FAO at the national and regional level and to organize awareness and capacity development training workshops, formation of women’s platform, and development of information materials.
This report is the outcome of a series of six fishworkers’ consultations, organised to discuss the relevance and implementation of FAO’s Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines (SSF Guidelines), and my sincere thanks…
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The SSF Guidelines hope to promote a human-rights-based approach to fisheries development and management as well as the use of aquatic, coastal, riparian and lakeshore space. The vicissitudes of the…
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These short animated video trigger awareness and discussion about gender equality in small-scale fisheries. One of the goals of the SSF Guidelines is helping to challenge gender-discriminatory laws, policies, customs…
These short animated video trigger awareness and discussion about key challenges faced by small-scale fishing communities. It introduces ways to address those challenges, as well as the Voluntary Guidelines for…
The Thirty-third Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) was held in Rome, Italy, from 9 to 13 July 2018. This is a report of the Session reflecting the discussions…
The objective of the Voluntary Guidelines is to provide practical guidance to States in their implementation of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of…