FAO presented Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) at the Ninth Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Heads of Fisheries Meeting recently in Noumea, New Caledonia.

Chief of FAO’s Development Law Service, Mr. Blaise Kuemlangan, highlighted the merits of the SSF Guidelines, referring to it as “the first international instrument that is dedicated entirely to the immensely important – but until now often neglected – small scale fisheries sector”. He said that the SSF Guidelines represent a global consensus on principles and guidance for small-scale fisheries governance and development.

They were developed for small-scale fisheries in close collaboration with representatives of small-scale fisheries organisations in a process facilitated by FAO. The guidelines are directed at all those involved in the sector, and intend to guide and encourage governments, fishing communities and other stakeholders to work together. Cooperation can ensure secure and sustainable small-scale fisheries for the benefit of small-scale fishers, fish workers and their communities as well as for society at large.

The objectives of the SSF Guidelines, are to:
• enhance the contribution of small-scale fisheries to global food security and nutrition, and support the progressive realisation of the right to adequate food;
• contribute to the equitable development of small-scale fishing communities and poverty eradication, and improve the socioeconomic situation of fishers and fish workers within the context of sustainable fisheries management;
• achieve the sustainable utilisation, prudent and responsible management, and conservation of fisheries resources consistent with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and related instruments;
• promote the contribution of small-scale fisheries to an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for the planet and its people;
• provide guidance that could be considered by States and stakeholders for the development and implementation of ecosystem friendly and participatory policies, strategies and legal frameworks for the enhancement of responsible and sustainable small-scale fisheries; and
• enhance public awareness and promote the advancement of knowledge on the culture, role, contribution and potential of small-scale fisheries, considering
The guidelines and its objectives, underpinned by a human rights approach, are critical to empowering small-scale fishing communities — including vulnerable and marginalised groups — to participate in decision-making processes, and to assume responsibilities for the sustainable use of fishery resources.

Mr. Kuemlangan commended the SSF Guidelines to the Heads of Fisheries of the Pacific and referred to FAO’s commitment to assist Pacific Countries in implementing the guidelines.

The Heads of Fisheries welcomed the endorsement by the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the SSF Guidelines. They recognized the high degree of concordance with the new guiding document for coastal fisheries management in the Pacific - The New Song for Coastal Fisheries: Pathways to Change (The New Song). The Heads of Fisheries encouraged SPC and FAO members to use the FAO Technical Cooperation Program to seek assistance for implementing the SSF Guidelines and for the implementation of the New Song in an integrated and coordinated manner across the respective FAO and SPC mandates in the Pacific region.

The Heads of Fisheries also welcomed the increase in technical support from FAO through the tasking of two fisheries technical officers to the region and noted the commitment by FAO to work with and through existing regional, sub-regional and civil society organizations and SPC/FAO member countries to achieve common objectives.

The SPC Heads of Fisheries Meeting is a biennial meeting which provides technical oversight of all SPC work in the field of fisheries and aquaculture. It also provides the opportunity for the Pacific Heads of Fisheries to discuss in detail topics of special interest covering both of SPC's Fisheries Programmes: Oceanic and Coastal.

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Information about the SSF Guidelines can be found here: www.fao.org/3/a-i4356e.pdf
More information about the Ninth SPC Heads of Fisheries Meeting can be found here: http://www.spc.int/fame/en/meetings/228-9th-spc-heads-of-fisheries-meeting