Fishery Characterization Guide

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Building familiarity with the basic characteristics of a fishery, such as information on the ecosystem, species landed and sociocultural characteristics of nearby communities, is critical to understanding fishery context. The Fishery Characterization Guide is used to gather key contextual information that is important for understanding a fishery. The Mapping Activity is used to visualize a fishery by conducting a participatory mapping exercise. With this tool, fishery practitioners can:

Collect and record broad contextual information about several aspects of a fishery including: ecosystem, fishermen and fishing grounds, fishing infrastructure, species information, markets and sociocultural characteristics.
Develop a common understanding of the characteristics present in the fishery by reviewing the guide with fishery stakeholders.

Apply the Guide iteratively to understand changing fishery dynamics and characteristics.
Fishery practitioners can use the contextual information gathered with this guide to adapt and design fishery reform systems to fishery-specific characteristics.