10th anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines)
2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines).
The SSF Guidelines are the first international instrument dedicated entirely to the immensely important small-scale fisheries sector. More than 4000 voices from fishers, fish workers and others in over 120 countries have described how they would want to make livelihoods along the small-scale fisheries value chain sustainable for people and the planet. Their recommendations have been summarized into a concise set of principles, namely the SSF Guidelines.
The final text of the SSF Guidelines was negotiated by FAO Members and endorsed by the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 2014, confirming a strong commitment from both governments and civil society to bring about positive change in small-scale fisheries.
The principles in the SSF Guidelines address policies, strategies and legal frameworks concerning small-scale fisheries, but also other matters affecting lives and livelihoods in fishing communities. The SSF Guidelines are global in scope, and they guide dialogue, policy processes and actions at national, regional and international level, contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Key issues addressed in the SSF Guidelines are:
- securing tenure rights and managing resources responsibly;
- supporting social development and decent work;
- improving value chains from catching through processing to trading fish;
- promoting gender equality; and
- taking into account climate change and disaster risk.
Aware, informed, empowered, capacitated
To achieve the recommendations in the SSF Guidelines, one must know about, understand and apply them. Efforts to implement the SSF Guidelines include: (i) Raising awareness; (ii) Strengthening the science-policy interface; (iii) Empowering stakeholder, and; (iv) Supporting implementation.
It is also important to understand the situation, challenges and opportunities facing small-scale fisheries around the world, and to use this knowledge to inform policies and decisions to support sustainable fisheries and community livelihoods.
Change has to happen at national and local levels. For that, fishers and fish workers need to know their rights and responsibilities and have ways to realize them. Organisations that carry the voice of fishers and fish workers to policy- and decision-makers must be supported and empowered. Likewise, policy- and decision-makers need the tools and capacity to engage with small-scale fishers.
All actors need supporting partnerships and arrangements that makes it easy for them to exchange ideas and concerns, and collaborate to make a difference. There is also a need to measure and keep track of progress.
The implementation of the SSF Guidelines is both challenging and promising. The International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) in 2022 has shown that actions to raise awareness on the small-scale fisheries subsector can generate positive results. Two countries have already launched National Plans of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries (NPOA-SSF) and other countries have started the process of developing an NPOA-SSF or have demonstrated interest in doing so.
On the SSF Guidelines website you can find more information about the SSF Guidelines, including related projects, tools and resources.
Tell us what you think and do!
Share your experience on the implementation of the SSF Guidelines
This call is an important stock taking opportunity for all and the results are expected to further inform FAO, governments, SSF organizations, NGOs development partners, CSOs, research and other partners initiatives to implement the SSF Guidelines at national, regional or global level.
The FAO SSF Guidelines team invite stakeholders to:
1. |
Share experiences, lessons learned and good practices on the implementation of the SSF Guidelines. |
2. |
Point out gaps, constraints and challenges encountered in raising awareness and implementing the SSF Guidelines. |
3. |
Suggest recommendations for improvements in implementing the SSF Guidelines. |
4. |
Share concrete plans to (further) use and implement the SSF Guidelines. |
5. |
Tell us why the SSF Guidelines are important. |
Your contributions will support celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the SSF Guidelines, for example during the 36th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries and during the 2024 SSF Summit and inform future implementation.
How to take part in this Call for Submissions:
Submissions can be made in any of the three languages (English, French or Spanish). Please keep the length of submissions limited to 1,000 words. You can download and upload the completed form on this webpage or, alternatively, send it to [email protected].
The Call for Submissions is open until 11 December 2023.
We engage you for an active participation and thank you for sharing your experience!
Co-facilitators:
Nicole Franz, Fishery Officer, Equitable Livelihoods Team Lead, Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, FAO
Mele Tauati, Fishery Officer (Small-Scale Fisheries), Equitable Livelihoods Team, Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, FAO
References:
FAO. 2015. Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication. Rome. https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I4356EN
FAO. 2021. SSF Guidelines uptake and influence. A pathway to impact. Rome. https://www.fao.org/3/cb7657en/cb7657en.pdf
FAO. 2020. Legislating for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries – A guide on how to align national fisheries legislation to the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication. Rome. https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/CB0885EN
FAO. 2023. International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 – Final report. Rome. https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en?details=cc5034en
United Republic of Tanzania. 2021. NPOA National Plan of Action For Implementation of Voluntary Guidelines on Securing Sustainable Small- scale fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (NPoA-SSF GUIDELINES). Dodoma, Tanzania. https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ssf/documents/Tanzania_National_Plan_of_Action_Book.pdf
Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR). 2022. National Plan of Action for small-scale fisheries. 2022-2026. Government of Namibia. https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ssf/documents/Namibias_National_Plan_of_Action_for_Small_Scale_Fisheries_2022_to_2026.pdf
For learning more about the FAO publications on this topic, please read the article here.
- Прочитано 64 комментарии
The IUF Asia/Pacific views the Guidelines as an important and unique tool for the promotion of the rights and livelihoods of small-scale fishers and fish workers, the advancement of food security and sustainable fisheries.
The Guidelines were explained and discussed in a series of workshops with our members in coastal fishing communities and aquaculture in certain countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia. It should be noted that none of our members were aware of the Guidelines at the time, but through our education activities quickly understand the practical importance and potential uses of the Guidelines. During these activities, we identified areas that need to be reviewed and strengthened in the Guidelines.
In the attached submission we propose that Guidelines should be strengthened in three key areas:
- Recognition of the right to freedom of association (the right to freely organize)
- Fully realizing the rights and role of women fishers and fish workers
- More effective measures for the elimination of child labour
In addition there are brief comments and observations on three additional topic
- Enhancing the response to climate change
- A rights-based approach to health and safety
- Tackling the impact of large-scale commercial fishing
Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication in Pakistan
A nation with a sizable coastal population that depends on fisheries for a living must ensure sustainable small-scale fisheries in the context of eradicating poverty and ensuring food security.
Food security is mostly ensured by small-scale fisheries, many of which are run by local communities. But because of overfishing, habitat deterioration, the effects of climate change, and poor management techniques, these fisheries are becoming less and less sustainable.
In summary, maintaining sustainable small-scale fisheries is a complex issue that calls for a diverse strategy that considers ecological, social, and economic factors. The development and implementation of effective policies and initiatives that support the long-term sustainability of small-scale fisheries is therefore dependent upon collaboration between government agencies, local communities, non-governmental organizations, and the corporate sector.
Г-жа Repa Kustipia
Dear FSN Moderator,
I attached : 10th anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) from Case Studies from Tasikmalaya, West Java - Indonesia.
Regards,
- Repa Kustipia
Dear Colleagues,
thanks for the initiative helping to keep attention to the SSF Guidelines and provide a platform to collect the many and diverse experiences over the years since their adoption in 2014.
Please find attached the filled form with a selection of the most significant contributions Mundus maris asbl made over the years to contribute to the dissemination of information and implementation of the SSF Guidelines. If you need further information, please do not hesitate to prompt us.
Kind greetings, Cornelia
Dr. Cornelia E. Nauen
www.mundusmaris.org
SmartFish is a hybrid enterprise based in Mexico that has developed a suite of tools, capacity building and technical support for small-scale fisher groups to access better-paying markets for sustainably caught seafood. We call this the Value Rescue Model and its purpose is to develop the capacities of small-scale fisher organizations to:
- Improve the quality and value of their products,
- Strengthen the entrepreneurial capacities of their organization; and
- Internalize fisheries management measures
By improving quality, processing and freezing their harvests and thereby accessing a different seafood market segment, small-scale fisher organizations are able to transition from price-takers to entrepreneurs. The lessons learned over the past 10 years are documented in the Value Rescue Guidelines shared here.
Value rescue refers to the deliberate harnessing of profits generated from business-related innovations and improvements for the betterment of environmental and social sustainability in small-scale fisheries. The end goal of the value rescue process is to develop fisheries that deliver high-quality, food safety certified seafood that is independently verifiable as environmentally sustainable and socially responsible.
In development and fisheries improvement processes, value adding generally consists of analyzing production and supply chains to identify ways in which additional value can be generated for the same raw material (eg processing seafood that would otherwise be sold whole round). Value rescue extends typical value addition in three ways:
- Adding and recovering value: beyond simple value addition, VR includes recuperating value that is otherwise lost by improving production (catch, handling processing, cold chain, transport, thereby improving product quality) and business practices (administration, production costs, planning, marketing, logistics, etc).
- Retaining value: VR includes increasing the proportion of value retained by fishers (through a combination of enterprise development and disintermediation)
- Incentivizing improvement: additional value added, recovered, and retained is deliberately harnessed to finance improvement of fisheries’ environmental and social performance.
Dear FSN Moderator,
After Greeting,
Below, you can find the application form for the 10th anniversary of
the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale
Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication.
Best regards
Mr. J. Amin
Cukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Departments of Animal
Science and Husbandry, Adana. Turkey.
The securing of sustainable small-scale fisheries in the context of food security and poverty eradication is a critical imperative for Pakistan, a country with a significant coastal population dependent on fisheries for livelihoods and sustenance. Small-scale fisheries, often operated by local communities, play a vital role in providing food security to millions of people while serving as a source of income for countless households. However, the sustainability of these fisheries is increasingly under threat due to overfishing, habitat degradation, climate change impacts, and inadequate management practices.
In Pakistan, where a substantial portion of the population relies on fisheries for both nutrition and income, addressing the sustainability of small-scale fisheries is pivotal. Sustainable fisheries management not only ensures the long-term availability of fish resources but also contributes to poverty eradication by providing stable livelihoods and economic opportunities for coastal communities. Effective governance mechanisms, community involvement, and science-based management practices are essential components of securing the sustainability of small-scale fisheries in the Pakistani context.
One key challenge lies in balancing the need for increased fish production to meet the growing demand for protein with the imperative to conserve marine ecosystems. Overfishing, destructive fishing practices, and inadequate regulation can lead to the depletion of fish stocks, threatening the livelihoods of those dependent on fisheries. Implementing and enforcing sustainable fishing practices, such as gear restrictions, catch limits, and seasonal closures, are crucial steps towards maintaining the ecological balance of marine ecosystems.
Furthermore, the link between sustainable small-scale fisheries and poverty eradication is evident in the potential for these fisheries to generate employment, particularly for marginalized communities along the coast. Strengthening the capacity of local fishers, promoting fair trade practices, and enhancing market access for small-scale fishers are integral to ensuring that the economic benefits of fisheries contribute to poverty reduction and improved well-being.
In conclusion, securing sustainable small-scale fisheries in Pakistan is a multifaceted challenge that requires a holistic approach encompassing ecological, social, and economic dimensions. By integrating sustainable management practices, fostering community engagement, and addressing the socio-economic needs of coastal populations, Pakistan can not only safeguard its fisheries resources but also contribute significantly to food security and poverty eradication goals. This necessitates collaboration between government agencies, local communities, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to develop and implement effective policies and initiatives that promote the long-term sustainability of small-scale fisheries.
The University of Agriculture Peshawar-25130 (PAKISTAN)
PhD Agronomy (CROP NUTRITION & GROWTH ANALYSIS)
Post Doctorate (DRYLAND AGRICULTURE, WUE & SSM, WTAMU, TEXAS USA)
FAO G
В настоящее время это мероприятие закрыто. Пожалуйста, свяжитесь с [email protected] для получения любой дополнительной информации.