This report presents the findings of a sector wide human rights impact assessment (SWIA)1 carried out in small-scale artisanal fishing communities in Barguna and Cox’s Bazar Districts in Bangladesh during 2019-2020.

Workshop report from CORDIO East Africa on the sustainable finance assessment protocol and the financing context of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in Kenya

IYAFA 2022 Small-Scale Fisheries Summit Report

This brochure describes why aquaculture insurance is important for the sustainable development and management of the sector. It discusses the benefits of aquaculture insurance and challenges in making aquaculture insurance accessible to small-scale producers.

This brochure describes why microfinance is important for small-scale fisheries and aquaculture and gives insight in microfinance and how it works.

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).

This brochure presents the main findings of a survey held among financial services providers (FSPs) in Africa about their supply of services to small-scale fishers and aquaculture producers.

To empower marginalised actors to become willing and able to engage proactively with more powerful market actors.

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).

Otherwise known as ‘ghost gear’, ALDFG is the most harmful form of marine debris as it is designed to last a long time. In response to a need for information on this topic, GCFI has produced new fact sheets that seek to share pertinent information about ALDFG and to promote the adoption of best management practices for preventing and reducing the impact of ALDFG.

This report takes stock of available knowledge on the economic importance of marine fisheries in sub-Saharan Africa and the populations that depend on them and provides a biophysical analysis of the impacts of climate change as they have already been measured and how they are modeled to evolve, a socioeconomic analysis of the same impacts of climate change, and preliminary estimates of the vulnerability of marine fisheries.

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).

A snapshot of findings from the Illuminating Hidden Harvests (IHH) report

This guide provides an overview of the unique roles and contributions women make in the wild-caught fisheries sector. The guide also explains how persistent gender inequalities limit women’s economic empowerment, and increased risks of gender-based violence negatively impact the potential of women to thrive and contribute towards strong economies.

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.

Blue swimming crab (BSC) industry contributes considerably to the region’s economy. Despite the extensive harvesting and marketing activities, there is no information on the people who make a living out of the BSC resource. This study provides suggestions to improve the management of BSC fishery by looking into the crabbers’ socio-demographic profile, crabbing gears, crabbing practices, and awareness of regulatory measures regarding BSC fishery management.

How are enterprises and NGOs in rural Kenya addressing poor people’s needs for energy that helps them earn a living? This paper looks at what new solar start-ups are doing to promote productive energy use in the fishing, agriculture and service sectors. It asks what specific productive energy needs the projects are targeting — such as cold storage for fish caught in Lake Victoria — and how they address the various barriers that prevent communities from fulfilling those needs. The six case studies include microgrids, irrigation pumps and multi-service energy hubs.

This report explores the current state of Cambodia’s fisheries and the data that would be needed to develop such a set of accounts. It considers the country’s existing statistical information and monitoring efforts, and where the gaps, inconsistencies and overlaps lie. It proposes a phased approach to build on what already exists to create greater visibility for the contribution of small-scale fisheries to the national economy and their role in developing sustainable fishing and aquaculture in the face of growing demands and climate change.

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.

The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) were adopted by member countries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and were officially approved as an international instrument in June 2014. Tis document is only a summation of the contents of the Guidelines.

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.