Key findings from the Illuminating Hidden Harvests report - This brief presents the main results from the Illuminating Hidden Harvests (IHH) report, providing new, clearer insights to support the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This document includes eight studies showcasing good practices in support of sustainable small-scale fisheries. FAO commissioned these studies aiming to share experiences and promote the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines).

This Guidance Note offers a framework that opens the “black box” of inclusion and removes uncertainty around the meaning of inclusion—in so doing we make clear distinctions between inclusion from more superficial forms or measures, especially attendance. The Guidance Note then presents a set of mixed methods and tools to assess inclusion (and exclusion) using this framework.

This brief helps facilitators use, reflect on, and adapt gender-inclusive strategies in their work with communities.

In this report, we analyze the legal framework, competencies and jurisdictions of all marine enforcement agencies in order to design a cost effective national surveillance system for Ecuador’s MPAs.

The Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative (BBHI) aims to develop sustainable ocean policy and local management capacity for the enforcement of fishery regulations within the Codrington Lagoon National Park (CLNP) and throughout Barbuda’s near shore jurisdictional waters (3NM). The BBHI represents a collaborative effort among the Barbuda Council, the Government of Antigua & Barbuda, and the Waitt Institute.

The Darwin-Hilsa project is developing an incentive-based system of hilsa fisheries management in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta. This study uses a mixed-methods approach to assess the socioeconomic status of local fishing households.

Traditional Knowledge of Northern Waters 2018 was a project that focused on two iconic Arctic river basins in the Fennoscandian and Russian North – the Skolt Sámi home stream of Näätämö river flowing from Finland to the Barents Sea and Ponoi river on Kola Peninsula, Russia. A third geographical area of the project was the coastal community of Sosnovka which is in close proximity to the Ponoi river mouth. The project benefitted from previous scientific work that commenced in the area 2006.

The project was led by the Snowchange Cooperative (FI) with House of Culture (Lovozero, Russia) and CBM – Swedish Biodiversity Center being project partners together with Sámi organisations. Funding was provided by NEFCO PECC-1 Programme.

El presente protocolo se realizó con la inspiración de diferentes protocolos que se emplean en los tres ecosistemas prioritarios donde COBI trabaja. El objetivo principal es fortalecer las capacidades de los socios comunitarios, personal de áreas naturales protegidas, investigadores, estudiantes, y voluntarios en general, los cuales podrán conocer y aprender las diferentes técnicas de monitoreo, especies que se censan en estos ecosistemas prioritarios y así lograr una colecta de datos estandarizada a nivel nacional.

El diseño de la guía práctica para la elaboración de proyectos tiene como objetivo el fortalecimiento de capacidades de las comunidades pesqueras. Esta herramienta propicia la autogestión de proyectos de conservación y pesca sostenible. A su vez se busca fomentar la corresponsabilidad en el manejo y gestión de recursos económicos en las comunidades para que éstos sean dirigidos a la resiliencia y la sostenibilidad, así como a la transferencia del conocimiento.

This guide, available in both English and Kiswahili, has been designed to provide guidance to community members and resource users who wish to manage their own natural resources by developing a strategy for local management of their coastal area and marine resources. It is meant not as a comprehensive, step-by-step guide, but rather as an introduction to the important ideas and processes involved in establishing local management. The guide provides some links where those interested can find out further information or can request support and practical assistance.

Collective action is recognized as a key element to successfully implementing sustainable fisheries. Nevertheless, gender equality, as an essential component in such actions, is often missing. In fisheries, women’s contributions are regularly invisible and remain unrepresented in statistics. In this paper, we examine the current status of women in Mexican fisheries based on governmental reports and programs, as well as five case studies from small-scale fishing communities.

The Indonesia field assessment, conducted from February 19 to March 3, 2017, contributed inputs to an overall strategy on marine tenure that will support the USAID SEA project’s goal to improve the management and sustainability of small-scale fisheries.

This desk study provides a summary of the Bangladesh experience in small-scale fisheries and marine tenure.

The overarching objective of this report was to determine, from current evidence and experiences from the region, a view of co-management application and performance.

This report identifies stakeholders of the artisanal fishery in Ghana, conducts a network analysis of these stakeholders and provides recommendations on how these networks could be harnessed for the development of the artisanal fishery in the region.

This report sets out the historic and existing governance arrangements for artisanal fishing in the Sherbro River Estuary (hereafter the Estuary’), where fishing is vital to the livelihoods and food security of local communities. It uses research from 17 community visits and interviews of key stakeholders to analyse current and historic conditions at the levels of local communities, traditional authorities, local government and central government.

This report examines traditional management and tenure arrangements in the clam fishery of the Volta river estuary and provides recommendations for ensuring the sustainability of the clam fishery, which is critical for local livelihoods and food security.

This document, Legislating for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries – A guide and considerations for implementing aspects of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication in National Legislation, is a tool for States to strengthen their fisheries legislation in order to establish conditions for inclusive and sustainable small-scale fisheries development, taking into account the interrelatedness of social, economic and environmental sustainability, while focusing on marginalized groups.

"This Toolkit presents a methodology for assessing the reform needs to strengthen SSF governance, along with examples of model regulatory language for the core governance elements."

This document provides a summary of the presentations, discussions, working group sessions and recommendations of the workshop “Strengthening organizations and collective action in fisheries: towards the formulation of a capacity development programme,” held in Barbados on 4–6 November 2014. The document also includes the nine in-depth case studies presented during the workshop and a contributed paper.

"Cooperatives in the small-scale fisheries sector are a way of maximizing long-term community benefits to deal with the threats of fisheries mismanagement, livelihood insecurity and poverty – harsh realities for many of the world’s small-scale fishers. Communities with successful community-based organizations are better off than those without (Ostrom, 1990). Successful cooperatives are possible, feasible and desirable and play an important role in community development. Cooperatives have the potential to empower small-scale fishers against environmental and socio-economic shocks such as catch shortfalls, sickness and death in their families, natural disasters and hunger.

The following case studies show how fisheries cooperatives contribute to improving the conditions of small-scale fishers around the globe."

Fisheries management is a complex and evolving discipline and much is still being learned about what it involves, what works and what does not. The problem is compounded by the fact that fisheries management as a coherent discipline is still poorly defined and frequently equally poorly understood. This publication strives to identify the primary tasks in management of capture fisheries, with particular emphasis on sustainable utilization of the biological resources, and to demonstrate how these tasks should be integrated and coordinated to obtain the desired benefits from the biological resources in a sustainable and responsible manner.