Small-scale fisheries (SSF), including fishers and fishworkers together with their communities and organizations, are among the world’s most effective contributors to safeguarding aquatic resources and environments. Living near to, and relying on, freshwater and marine aquatic species and environments, small-scale fisheries are at the heart of environmental conservation and stewardship – of caring for and sustainably using aquatic environments, managing fisheries for sustainable use, protecting and restoring local ecosystems, and working with others towards these goals.

The key role played by SSF organizations and fishing communities is well recognized in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and in the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) which note that “States should recognize the role of small-scale fishing communities and Indigenous Peoples to restore, conserve, protect and co-manage local aquatic and coastal ecosystems.” Thanks to the active participation of many small-scale fishing communities and organizations, this publication draws on real-world examples of small-scale fisheries stewardship to highlight the various forms of stewardship, to outline ingredients of success in that stewardship, and to describe how policymakers and others can support those stewardship activities around the world.