When fishers are able to join together their voices and impact are stronger. Discover how membership, co-ops, associations, and  organizations can advocate on behalf of small-scale fishers and improve governance. 

Resources

Strengthening Conservation Community Enterprises (CCEs) E-Course

CCEs, such as SSF and Aquaculture cooperatives, are small, locally-run businesses providing livelihoods that also support the protection of habitats and biodiversity. However, CCEs often face significant obstacles in trying to make a sustainable living. Whether it’s the administrative challenge of establishing a business or a lack of capital to get things off the ground, these obstacles can prevent many enterprises from reaching their full potential. To address this, WWF developed a self-paced e-learning course to help NGOs and community-based organizations better support communities in strengthening CCEs
Value chains & post harvest
Value add and processing
Market access
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Capacity development
Participatory processes and stakeholder engagement

Comités Consultivos de Manejo y Ordenamiento Pesquero: guía para conocer, formar y operar un comité consultivo de manejo pesquero

El presente documento es una guía que reúne información, experiencias y recomendaciones sobre los Comités Consultivos de Manejo Pesquero (Comités Consultivos). Está dirigida principalmente a las personas que forman parte de una pesquería o región pesquera y se encuentran interesadas en participar en el manejo responsable y participativo de los recursos pesqueros.
Science, knowledge & information gathering
Traditional and local ecological knowledge
Co-management
Fisheries management
Blue justice
Climate change
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Other resources & approaches
Leadership
Capacity development
Participatory processes and stakeholder engagement

Financing fisheries in Africa: Case studies from the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia

This brochure presents two case studies of institutions successfully providing financial services to small-scale fisheries in Africa. The two case studies were identified during a regional market demand and supply survey of financial service provision to small scale fishers, carried out by the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA) and the Global network for capacity building to increase access of small-scale fisheries to financial services (CAFI-SSF).
Value chains & post harvest
Market access
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations

Securing sustainable small-scale fisheries: sharing good practices from around the world

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).
Science, knowledge & information gathering
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Tenure rights
Value chains & post harvest
Market access
Human rights & gender equality
Human rights-based approach
Indigenous rights
Disaster risks & climate change
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Social responsibility in seafood
Food security & nutrition
Other resources & approaches
Capacity development
Participatory processes and stakeholder engagement

Unveiling women's roles and inclusion in Mexican small-scale fisheries (SSF)

The contributions of women to fisheries are often invisible, ignored, and unrecognized even though they represent 47% of the global fisheries workforce, especially in pre- and post-production activities. Poor data systems lead to incorrect assumptions about the gender division of labor in fisheries. This causes the role of women in fisheries to be overlooked. To evaluate the contribution of women in the value chain, a participatory methodology was implemented in three small-scale, fisheries in Mexico: California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) fishery from the northern Mexican Pacific, penshell (Atrina maura) fishery from the Gulf of California, and Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) fishery from the Mesoamerican Reef region.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Value chains & post harvest
Value add and processing
Human rights & gender equality
Gender in fisheries
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Worker rights and decent work
Capacity development

Women's empowerment, collective actions, and sustainable fisheries: lessons from Mexico

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.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Co-management
Fisheries management
Human rights & gender equality
Gender in fisheries
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Leadership
Capacity development

Social protection in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in Latin America and the Caribbean

Taking into account the economic importance of this sector for small-scale producers, as well as its high degree of vulnerability, the aim of this report is to give an overview of the current state of social protection and challenges facing small-scale fishers and fish farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean. It analyses the social protection needs of this population segment, the main social protection programs in the region, and proposes a roadmap with public policy recommendations to promote adequate social protection.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Fisheries management
Gender in fisheries
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Worker rights and decent work

Social protection for small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean region

This review includes the findings of a desk study, complemented by consultation and validation missions, on social protection systems in place and available to small-scale fishers in Mediterranean riparian states, and it outlines the specific cases of five Mediterranean countries (Albania, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia), setting out best practices and sharing recommendations.
Fisheries policy, governance & management
Fisheries management
Social development & employment
Fisher and fishworker organizations
Other resources & approaches
Capacity development
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