FAO Adopts Small Scale Fisheries Guidelines

Nicole Franz is a Fishery Policy Analyst at FAO

The big role of small-scale fisheries recognized: The first ever international instrument dedicated entirely to an immensely important sector

The term ‘small-scale fisheries’ can often evoke a romanticized image of traditional craft by quaint lakeside villages or exotic beaches: stilt fishermen in Sri Lanka, lift nets in Viet Nam, pirogues off West Africa. This distorted perception underestimating – and undermining – the importance and dynamism of small-scale fisheries the world over has tended to prevail but this is finally about to change: the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) were just approved.

A few facts: Small-scale fisheries represent about 90% of the world’s 39.4 million capture fishers – mostly in developing countries. Taking into account related activities, about 120 million people derive their livelihood from small-scale fisheries– and about half of them are women. Small-scale fishers produce half of all global fish catches. Indeed they supply most of the fish consumed in the developing world – a highly nutritious food, especially in areas with limited access to other sources of animal protein and micronutrients. As well, small-scale fisheries often help shore up local economies in coastal and lake/riverside communities, providing an engine for the local economy including not just fishing but also many associated activities such as net and boat making, fish drying and salting, marketing and selling.

Yet, for too long small-scale fishers and their communities have largely been neglected, marginalized and living in vulnerable conditions. Most are excluded from national, regional and global decision-making processes. They continue to be defined as ‘small’ while their contribution to and potential for food security and poverty eradication is enormous.

To address this situation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Committee on Fisheries (COFI) endorsed the landmark SSF Guidelines. This is the first ever negotiated instrument devoted entirely to small-scale fisheries.  

Since 2011, more than 4,000 people from 120 countries contributed actively to the development of the SSF Guidelines. The civil society played a particularly important role, bringing the voices of the small-scale fishers and fish workers themselves into the process. Hence, participants from governments, regional fisheries bodies, academia, research, civil society and fishing communities worked together and explored ways to better bring together responsible fisheries and social development. COFI also announced that the SSF Guidelines will be dedicated to the memory of one of the most ardent fighters for the rights of small-scale fishers and fish workers, Chandrika Sharma, executive secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fish Workers, who was on the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared in March 2014.

The SSF Guidelines are voluntary, focus on the needs of developing countries and are relevant to small-scale fisheries in marine and inland waters, covering fishing as well as related post-harvest and upstream activities.

So how can the SSF Guidelines make a difference? They provide an opportunity for millions of people dependent on small-scale fisheries by helping them to understand their rights, enabling them to fully realize their potential contribution to ocean health, food security and poverty eradication. This is of importance not only to small-scale fishing communities themselves but also to all that depend on fish as part of their diet and for whom a sustainable use of fishery resources need to be ensured.

The SSF Guidelines support initiatives for poverty alleviation and equitable social and economic development, for improving governance of fisheries and promoting sustainable resource use. They take into account a wide range of important principles, including equality, non-discrimination, participation, accountability and universal human rights. In particular, they stress the importance of respecting and realizing human rights and dignity, and on the need for gender equality, as well as encouraging countries to ensure small-scale fishers are represented in decision-making processes that affect their livelihoods. 

Now the next step is putting the SSF Guidelines into practice – and helping to realize the large potential of small-scale fisheries. This should happen in the same inclusive and consensus-seeking spirit and environment that characterized the development process of the SSF Guidelines so far.

Future implementation of the SSF Guidelines should be based on participation and partnerships, with implementation anchored at the national and local levels within a framework of regional and international collaboration, awareness raising, policy support and capacity development. This will require support to and collaboration with many different actors including governments, development agencies and international financing institutions, NGOs, academia, civil society and the private sector.

For more information see the FAO press release and the COFI Executive Summary