The SSF Hub, the IPC Working Group on Fisheries and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), recently co-organized a Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) Summit in Rome in the days before the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) 35th Session. The SSF Summit brought together over 100 participants, mostly SSF representatives, from 41 countries to learn from each other.
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The Summit increased dialogue amongst fishers and fisher representatives and fostered constructive strategic discussions across small-scale fishery organizations, NGOs and others. It concluded with a renewed feeling of camaraderie, continued focus for collective implementation of the SSF Guidelines and shared strategies for achieving those goals. You may find more information, photos and the report on the SSF Summit on the event website.
The energy from the Summit translated to immediate action. During the official COFI meeting, there was an IYAFA-themed high-level event at which many small-scale fishery representatives spoke and highlighted the importance of small-scale fishers being a part of discussions and decision-making around fisheries and other topics that impact their communities. Then, during the discussion of IYAFA in the regular COFI agenda, the governments of Chile, Norway, Tanzania and the United States proposed amendments to the official report from the session to reflect a recommendation that a similar SSF Summit should be held prior to every COFI. Members of the small-scale fisheries movement also spoke and reiterated some of the same messages. This resulted in the FAO Committee on Fisheries in its 35th session encouraging the organizations of a Summit on small-scale fisheries every two years prior to COFI!
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Check out some of the statements and reflections made by the small-scale fisheries movements and others here:
- COFI statements made by the Fisheries Group of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) and the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) on Agenda Item 6: Supporting Small-Scale and Artisanal Fisheries.
- The IPC shared an article about their reflections from COFI35.
- A recent article from the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA) reflecting on COFI and sharing a Call to Action issued by many small-scale fishery organizations.
- You can also see some of the conversations by exploring the #SSFSummit hashtag on Twitter.
Small-scale fisheries were definitely highlighted during this COFI session and the SSF Hub was happy to be a part of this first SSF Summit. It truly showed the value and need of small-scale fishery actors coming together, sharing experiences and raising their voices in unity. We can’t wait for the next Summit!
SSF Hub Partner Reflections: Small-Scale Fisheries Summit 2022
Download the Small-Scale Fisheries Summit Report
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This article is part of the SSF Highlights series of articles published regularly to the SSF Hub. To read previous SSF Highlights, follow this link.