SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES DATA

It’s impossible to manage what you can’t measure, so efforts to collect data of all kinds are being stepped up across the region with the active involvement of the fishers themselves through:

• • Participatory data collection systems
  • National fleet registers including SSF
  • Integrate fisher Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) in management

SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT MEASURES

An environmentally, socially and economically sustainable future requires careful planning, regulation, monitoring and control to create an equitable sector for small-scale fisheries actors and encourage best practices through:

• • Access rights (i.e. access to resources, to landing sites)
  • Selectivity and biodiversity preservation (i.e. minimize bycatch, preserve essential fish habitats)
  • Technology and equipment (i.e. communications/navigation equipment, catch preservation, gear traceability)
  • Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (i.e. participatory surveillance)

SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES VALUE CHAIN

The RPOA-SSF aims to help small-scale fishers increase the value of their catch and increase their incomes, promoting initiatives such as local cooperatives, certification schemes, direct sales and other forms of value-chain innovation through:

• • Strengthen producer organizations, including through improving market access and profitability
  • Promote first processing by fishers and direct sales
  • Raise consumer awareness and promote certification and traceability

PARTICIPATION OF SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES IN DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES

A sustainable future will be impossible to achieve without the support and participation of the small-scale fishers themselves, so their active involvement in key decisions is a vital strategic aim of the RPOA-SSF through:

• • Co-management
  • Participation: MPA management and MSP processes
  • Reinforce legislation for participatory approaches
  • Synergies between SSF and other marine economies, including recreational fisheries

CAPACITY-BUILDING

Education, training and technical and financial support are all required to support small-scale fishing communities in diversifying their activities, increasing their incomes and improving their prospects, particularly in the case of women and young people through:

• • SSF platforms
  • Access to funding, education/training
  • Livelihood diversification
  • Technical assistance and information sharing

DECENT WORK

Ensuring decent and safe working conditions and social protection for small-scale fishing communities is key to strengthening the resilience of both the current and potential future workforce through:

• • Ensure decent work and improve conditions (ILO C188)
  • Social protection

ROLE OF WOMEN

Gender equity is no less important in small-scale fisheries than any other sector, and the RPOA-SSF aims to give women the support they need to play a full role and participate on an equal footing through:

• • Equal participation in decision-making
  • Specific projects targeting women

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

As well as needing particular support to tackle the new challenges posed by a changing climate and disruptions to marine ecosystems, small-scale fisheries have a central role to play in the blue transformation of our region, in everything from marine protection to the circular economy through:

• • SSF within framework of nationally determined contributions (NDCs)
  • Support SSF communities affected by climate change or disasters
  • Innovative solutions for valorization and utilization of NIS
  • Circular economy: disposal of marine litter and recycling of recovered nets