How can your fishery benefit all community members in an equitable manner? A human rights-based approach recognizes and promotes the roles of all fishery stakeholders, while uplifting women and other marginalized people. Upholding the rights of all people through inclusive, participatory decision-making and working towards preventing human-rights abuses is fundamental to successful small-scale fisheries. Start here to learn about gender equity and equality and use the sub-categories below to identify stakeholders and understand their rights, and yours. 

Resources

Traditional Knowledge of Northern Waters

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.

Territories of Life: 2021 Report

Territories of Life: 2021 Report is a local-to-global analysis of territories and areas conserved by Indigenous peoples and local communities (sometimes abbreviated as “ICCAs” or “territories of life”). This multi-scale approach weaves together diverse perspectives, insights and new findings about the grassroots global phenomenon of territories of life while also creating space for nuance and complexity. Overall, the report adds to a growing body of literature on the incontrovertible role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in ensuring a healthy planet for all, and the urgent actions required to support them.

Women's economic empowerment in fisheries - In the blue economy of the Pacific Rim

This report provides a baseline analysis of women’s economic empowerment in the fisheries sector in the blue economy of the Indian Ocean rim region. The report focuses on the 22 Member States of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and includes both marine and inland fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

Women in Small-scale Fisheries in Tanzania: Challenges and Opportunities

This video case study explores the challenges that women involved in fisheries activities face on a day to day basis in Tanzania: What successes have they achieved? how can their participation in fisheries be strategically improved? It also explains the strategies in place at local and national levels to counter and improve the situation.

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.

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.

Actioning the Monterey Framework: Stories from Around the World

The Monterey Framework is a collectively agreed-upon definition of socially responsible seafood with input and backing from over two-dozen environmental and human rights organizations and voluntary commitments from an equal number of seafood businesses.