On the 40th anniversary of the International Conference of Fish Workers and their Supporters (ICFWS), an account of how a group of collaborators pulled off what was then a miracle.  In July 1983, amidst my job tenure in bustling Hong Kong, I received a pivotal letter from a dear friend. It...

Small-scale fisheries play an indispensable role in combating poverty, enhancing food security and promoting the sustainable use of marine and inland waters the world over. This year is the tenth anniversary of a monumental achievement for small-scale fishing communities and Indigenous Peoples. A decade ago, fisherfolk and civil society organizations united...

A network of trainers and community radio broadcasters has been working hard to disseminate SSF Guidelines in West Africa, relying on local media and grassroots initiatives. The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (the SSF Guidelines) is an international framework adopted...

Area-based management measures by any sector can deliver outcomes that collectively align with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) Strategy on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Food Production Sectors....

WorldFish Director-General, Essam Yassin Mohammed, recently appeared on the Victorian Hour, ABC Radio Australia, sharing insights on how the Blue Economy must benefit fishing communities in the Global South. In the radio interview, he spoke about how it is imperative that blue economy initiatives benefit fishing communities in developing and small island...

The National Plans of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries help implement the SSF Guidelines at the country level, factoring in varying national and regional legal and policy frameworks. No matter where in the world, small-scale fisheries (SSF) represent a critical source of food security, nutrition and livelihoods for coastal and riverine communities....

The Japanese tenure rights system is primarily responsible for the sustainability of small-scale fisheries. The TBTI Global Book Series, Life Above Water (Jentoft 2019), has resonated with the public and received a great response in Japan. In a remarkable display of collaboration, dozens of researchers, government officials, and fishers have worked...

As the need for sustainable use peatlands increases, the aim of this study is to identify ways to increase the application of agrosilvofishery as an alternative to the traditional sonor system. Herein, the researchers investigate the perception of peatland degradation and the willingness to participate in agrosilvofishery among peatland residents....

Millions have found livelihood due to co-management practices that protect aquatic resources, contributing to the sustainable development of small-scale fisheries in Vietnam.  Vietnam’s 3,260-km coastline spans 28 provinces and cities, supporting thousands of fishing villages and millions of families. About five million people work in the fisheries sector, directly or indirectly,...

The absence of tenure security threatens the traditional livelihoods of the fixed bag-net fishworkers in India’s eastern state of West Bengal. Conflicts over use of natural resources are common in coastal areas globally. Fluid environmental frontiers, historical marginalization of fisher communities, and overlapping tenure systems coded in formal law or customary...

Often called the Land of Rivers, Bangladesh boasts a remarkable riverine landscape that has nurtured a flourishing fisheries sector. With about 230 rivers crisscrossing it, the country is one of the world’s largest deltas along with the world’s largest flooded wetland. The fisheries industry is a vital pillarof the national...

Climate change and variability affect virtually everyone and every region of the world but the effects are nowhere more prominent than among rural marginalized communities that rely heavily on agriculture and fishing for a living and they face numerous livelihood challenges including risk posed by variability of climate. Using phenomenological...

The past 75 years in Sri Lanka have seen a shift in tenure rights in small-scale fisheries, heralding a new era.  Tenure rights have a strong influence on access, use, management and conservation of aquatic resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines tenure rights in fishing...

On KIARA’s current work KIARA still does advocacy. The Indonesian government is focusing on the Blue Economy, with emphasis on massive expansion of production from marine resources, affecting the community. We have also been working on the climate crisis, especially as it relates to the sinking and drowning villages in...

This course conceptualizes illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and explores the international responsibilities of flag, coastal and port States in carry out effective measures to combat it. It also details the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), which is the first internationally binding instrument focused on preventing, deterring and...

Vietnam’s largest deltaic region, the Mekong Delta offers great potential for rice production and aquaculture. With an area of 747,000 hectares in 2022, it is the country’s largest shrimp-producing area. The shrimp-rice area covers nearly 190,000 hectares, accounting for 26.8 per cent of the total shrimp farming area in the...

Every corner along Japan’s long coast has a fishing port. Where there are fishing ports, there are fishing communities working diverse small-scale and coastal fisheries daily. Its beautiful coastal landscape is Japan’s identity. It is no exaggeration to say that the Fisheries Co-operative Association (FCA) system has supported such an...

As small-scale fishers in China increasingly lose the sea areas that have supported their livelihood, it is necessary to protect fishery tenure rights. The Blue Economy has contributed to the economic development in China in the past decades. This has also resulted in over-exploitation of marine resources and damage to the...

I am a small-scale fisherman working the beach of Bujama Baja. It lies in Mala district of the Canete province in Peru’s Lima department. I have been plying my trade for 34 years, fully engaged in the only livelihood I was given by God: the sea. I am registered with...

Este curso, que se centra en los sistemas de agua dulce, inspira a administradores, científicos y miembros de la comunidad a trabajar con diferentes disciplinas y cuencas hidrográficas. El curso enseña a los alumnos a comprender y gestionar las cuencas hidrográficas, así como a hacer un seguimiento de las mismas,...