This report categorizes the different types of direct-to-consumer [D2C] models that currently exist within the seafood sector, and evaluates their respective strengths and weaknesses, the enabling conditions important for certain models to thrive, as well as barriers to scale and growth. The goal is to provide insight into how these models may affect the way wild capture seafood is bought and sold around the world, and in particular, the impact this may have on social and environmentally responsible seafood initiatives.

For nearly two years, local, regional, and global fisheries and seafood supply chains have been forced to adjust and adapt to the unprecedented conditions brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

This study seeks to synthesize the complex conditions and outcomes to date, and provide an overview of the current landscape of change. Within that landscape we explore which trends or pa terns emerged simply as stop gaps in a moment of crisis, and which shifts are likely to last in the long-term.

This document is part of a series of briefs framed under the provisions of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). The briefs aim to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods and sustainable development of the small-scale fisheries sector and provide examples of coping strategies.

The onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020 led to a dramatic rise in unemployment and fears about food-security throughout the Caribbean region. Subsistence fisheries were one of the few activities permitted during emergency lockdown in The Bahamas, leading many to turn to the sea for food. This study highlights the role of small-scale fisheries as a ‘natural insurance’ against socio-economic shocks and a source of resilience for small island communities at times of crisis. It also underscores the risks to food security and long-term sustainability of fishery stocks posed by overexploitation of natural resources.

We tracked the impacts of COVID-19 on aquatic food value chains in Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Myanmar and Nigeria during 2020. We assessed the availability and price of aquatic foods and production inputs using a high frequency panel survey of 767 actors from eight value chain nodes. We also conducted semi-structured phone interviews with 63 respondents in Bangladesh and online interviews with 100 aquatic food value chain actors and key informants from 17 sub-Saharan African countries. This information provides insights into the pathways by which the crisis has affected aquatic food value chain actors, the scale of those impacts and how they have adapted. These findings give rise to policy recommendations aimed at mitigating impacts in the present, assisting recovery and building a more resilient aquatic food system in the future.

Para contribuir a los esfuerzos nacionales y globales, Comunidad y Biodiversidad, A. C. (COBI) ha iniciado un proceso de consulta con pescadores en ocho entidades federativas de México para conocer los impactos económicos y sociales de la pandemia. Así como, los roles del estado y la distribución de apoyos, los efectos en la salud, las soluciones locales aplicadas por los pescadores, la igualdad de género, el uso de tecnología y el impacto ambiental. Este primer reporte refleja los impactos económicos y sociales inmediatos del COVID-19 y concluye con una serie de recomendaciones expresadas por el sector pesquero.

The full range of activities required to deliver fish and fish products from production to the final consumer is subject to indirect impacts of the pandemic through new sanitary measures, changing consumer demands, market access or logistical problems related to transportation and border restrictions. This in turn has a damaging effect on fishers and fish farmers’ livelihoods, as well as on food security and nutrition for populations that rely heavily on fish for animal protein and essential micronutrients.

This policy brief reviews on going challenges and proposes measures to protect production and income of the sector and the most vulnerable, as well as maintain operations and support the supply chain.

En este octavo y último reporte, Comunidad y Biodiversidad, A.C. (COBI) se enfocó en entender qué ha cambiado en las vidas de los pescadoras y pescadores a raíz de la pandemia, qué se ha aprendido en estos meses y cómo regresar a pescar con seguridad en el contexto de la nueva normalidad.

This publication brings to the frontline, issues that beg for attention in the fisheries sector.

Chapter one of this publication, titled COVID-19 and Fisheries, highlights how the pandemic has affected the fisheries subsector.

Chapter two, titled Dead Fish is not Manna, captures the peculiarities and challenges of fisheries in Nigeria noting the contaminated state of some of the fishes sold in the country's markets.