This report provides 50 interviews from fisheries that are moving towards sustainability. It takes the approach of speaking to those who are directly involved in fishing, earn their livelihoods on a daily basis from fishing and often work at the sharp end in dangerous conditions. These are the people, together with partners, who are working to change their fisheries from ones characterised by overexploitation or poor management to sustainable fisheries using innovative management measures and a great deal of hard work. 

The Prince’s Charities’ International Sustainability Unit commissioned this work as part of their overall aim to facilitate consensus on how to address key challenges facing wild fisheries. In the wider discussion on marine fisheries, there is often considerable focus on the problems but less air time given to examples where there have been successful transitions made towards sustainability. The ISU was therefore interested in showcasing examples where improvements have been made and learn from how the changes took place, what the real drivers were behind the scenes, and the resulting benefits and costs in environmental, economic and social terms.

The result is a set of 50 interviews from marine capture fisheries in transition towards sustainability and the themes that emerge. The case studies are told from the perspective of the fishing sector and provide a rich body of experience from a variety of fisheries around the world. There are significant challenges to address in marine capture fisheries, but interviews from these 50 fisheries provide much encouragement. The personal accounts – across a range of fisheries, from around the world using different gears and targeting different species – illustrate that it is possible to make changes towards sustainability and that the benefits are tangible. The interviews highlight the vital role of the fishing sector itself. Change appears to be most effective where fishers and the fishing industry are organised, have their voices heard and are involved in designing solutions to the challenges. It has often been the personal commitment of key players in the fisheries that has pushed through the changes. There will always be competing demands on a fishery, and one of the key challenges is balancing social, economic and environmental objectives. However, these numerous examples show that through clever design, realigning incentives and involving stakeholders it is possible to achieve objectives and mitigate impacts. Each fishery is different, and there is no end point to the quest for sustainably managed fisheries. It may be the constant fight against IUU or the adaptation of management of environmental variation; in all cases sustainable global fisheries need investment in their future and participants.