Fisheries make a crucial and growing contribution to food, nutrition and livelihood security.
Yet, despite significant successes in some regions the proportion of marine fish stocks fished within
biologically sustainable levels continues to decline.
What innovative fisheries policy and management interventions are needed to secure fisheries
sustainability?
How can sustainable fisheries contribute to securing the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the
end of hunger and poverty?
How do we ensure that nutritious aquatic foods reach those that need it most, now and in the future?
About this report
The International Symposium
on Fisheries Sustainability, held in Rome in November 2019, supported the development of a new
vision for sustainable and socially just fisheries, resilient to the changes of the twenty-first century.
The symposium managed to gather an exceptional, diverse group of participants from different sectors and
regions around the world. Moreover, a set of recommendations emerged from the sessions´ discussions that
will help improve the sustainability of capture fisheries and progress towards the different targets and
objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In places where fisheries management is not in place, or is ineffective, the status of fish stocks is poor
and deteriorating. Although 78.7 percent of all landings of marine fisheries come from biologically
sustainable stocks, the unequal progress in fisheries management highlights the urgent need to replicate and
re-adapt successful policies.
These recommendations are expected to be applicable in the medium to long term, but also to address times of
crisis like the one we are living now with COVID-19. Now more than ever, it is critical that we build
resilient and sustainable food systems that leave no one behind.
This digital report summarizes some of the main discussion points, key facts and main outputs from the
symposium.
Marine and inland fisheries are at an important crossroads
The world population will reach 8.5 billion by 2030.
Annual fish consumption is predicted to exceed 21.5 kg per capita by 2030.
World fish consumption as food is projected to increase more than 18% by 2030.
Since 1961 the annual global growth in fish consumption has been twice as high as population growth,
demonstrating that the sustainability of fisheries resources is crucial for a world without hunger
and malnutrition.
However, there is a decreasing overall trend in the proportion of marine fish stocks caught within
biologically sustainable levels, especially in the least developed regions. At the same time, inland
fisheries are profoundly affected by the growing demand for fresh water fish.
Let’s examine the ways we can strengthen the science and policy interplay in fisheries production, management
and trade, based on solid sustainability principles for improved global outcomes on the ground.
Sector-wide recommendations
Following the International
Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability, a number of emerging cross-cutting messages and
recommendations that are relevant for both inland and marine capture fisheries were considered.
1
The development of joint integrated biodiversity and food security objectives is required to
ensure that aquatic foods can reach those that need it most now, and in the future, reducing
undesirable impacts and food waste and addressing malnutrition and hunger.
2
Communication on fisheries issues needs to be largely improved. In particular, there is a need to
change the narrative on fisheries, putting the emphasis on its uniqueness and importance as food
production system, and leveraging it as vehicle to empower fisherfolk.
3
Reducing and eliminating harmful practices that may lead to overcapacity, overfishing, and/or IUU
fishing are important means for sustainability.
4
Gender equality and equity with support to the younger generations must be improved. Proactive
mechanisms for this include elevating the role of women in decision making; engagement of youth;
focused capacity building actions; gender statistics; sex- and age- disaggregated data.
5
Capacity building, in particular aimed at data collection and analysis and improving countries
ability to better assess and monitor their fisheries continue to be needed.
6
Political will should be sought and capacity to improve implementation of existing policy
frameworks should be strengthened. Policy innovations in the sector are required to address
emerging challenges such as climate change, and the increasing demand of fish and fish products.
7
There is a strong need to integrate fisheries into broader planning and governance frameworks
that bring multiple sectors together and facilitate the implementation of evidence-based
assessment and management.
8
Livelihoods, well-being and decent work must be considered more explicitly in fisheries
management, including by increased stakeholder involvement and secured rights and access.
Now let’s take an in-depth look at the issues facing marine and
inland fisheries.
Sustainability and its implications for policy and management
The fraction of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels has shown a decreasing trend.
Sustainable fisheries are critical for marine ecosystems and for communities dependent on fish and
fisheries.
The current status of global and regional fisheries sustainability
Globally, the fraction of fish stocks that are within biologically sustainable levels has shown a decreasing
trend, from 90 percent in 1974 to 65.8 percent in 2017.
Although some developed countries/regions have rebuilt overfished stocks and largely eliminated overfishing,
some developing countries face a worsening situation in terms of overcapacity, production per unit of effort
and resource sustainability.
The challenges and potential solutions for assessing and monitoring
stock status
FAO´s initiative for monitoring the state of the world’s fish stocks is the most authoritative and
comprehensive analysis at the regional and global level. It covers about 70 percent of global marine
landings and about 400 species/stocks.
However, there is currently no equivalent initiative to monitor the state of inland fisheries, limiting our
ability to understand and to estimate the sustainability status of inland capture fisheries around the
world.
Fisheries information and knowledge, when based on best available science and traditional, local, indigenous
and women knowledge and validated by relevant stakeholders, will support the development of effective
policies and enhance the capacity of countries and regions to manage stocks sustainably.
Key messages
How to approach the challenges to achieving ecological
sustainability of global regional fisheries
Promote assessment and monitoring of individual stocks and improve transparency at the
stock and country level to better understand the status of fisheries at relevant
geographical scales.
Encourage the development and implementation of simpler stock assessment methods
that require less-detailed data and less technical expertise to reduce the
proportion of unassessed stocks around the globe.
Improve the monitoring of inland fisheries and develop approaches to evaluate
freshwater fisheries along with technical tools to manage inland systems.
For inland fisheries it will be particularly important to engage with other sectors
(e.g., hydropower, agriculture) and consider fisheries within an integrated
watershed management framework.
Mobilize resources and provide financial support for continued capacity development
programmes aimed at strengthening stock and fisheries assessment and monitoring
systems, particularly in developing-world, small-scale and inland fisheries.
Consider adoption of a new global target for sustainable management that would be
more conservative or precautionary in data-limited situations and/or where governance is
weaker.
Focus efforts on collecting biological, fishery and habitat information, in a
cost-efficient and rigorous manner.
Data-poor does not always mean information-poor. Develop and implement better
mechanisms to incorporate multiple types of available information, including
local knowledge and expertise, and their integration into assessment and management
approaches.
Collect basic data needed for a particular fishery and capture local knowledge to
help design empirical, simple harvest control rules.
Encourage appropriate communication, knowledge mobilization and education across all
actors (fishers, scientists and managers) involved in decision-making to improve
transfer of information and buy-in compliance to regulations to achieve effective
management systems.
Promote appropriate communication and awareness about the impact of illegal
fishing on overfishing and fish stock recovery.
Encourage mechanisms to improve and reward compliance with management regulations.
International organizations, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations
and academic and research institutions need to better cooperate and expand its
outreach to build technical capacity in fisheries and aquaculture to continue to
take on the challenge of sustainability of global fisheries.
Linking biodiversity conservation and food security
Overexploitation, pollution and habitat destruction are threatening the services provided by aquatic
ecosystems.
Healthy ecosystems are essential to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population.
Reconciling fisheries and biodiversity objectives
Biological diversity and the complex interconnections between species and populations, their functions and
the environment, underpin the food and livelihoods upon which our growing population depends.
Despite the linkages between food provisioning, ecological and socioeconomic systems, objectives for
biodiversity conservation have often been considered to be in competition with objectives for food security.
However, the management and conservation of habitats and fish stocks, including restoration and rebuilding
efforts, have been proven to deliver multiple benefits. It has been estimated that:
every dollar used in coastal habitat restoration can potentially generate USD 15 in benefits (ABT,
2015).
and every dollar invested in fish stock recovery can generate about USD 4.80 in benefits (Sumaila,
2012).
Productive and healthy ecosystems actually supply more food than degraded systems. It is evident from recent
data that pushing the system harder and further does not improve food security and it puts the system’s
integrity at risk of shocks.
Women and men hold different specific biodiversity knowledge and use it in different ways. The collection of
sex-disaggregated data can shed light on gender roles in biodiversity protection and fisheries management,
and can help us design interventions that promote equality and inclusion.
Objectives and priorities that will help us ensure people’s nutritional needs are met while ecosystem
resilience is maintained need to be developed and measures put in place to ensure that they are achieved.
Key messages
How to better link biodiversity conservation and food security
objectives
Support the development of joint biodiversity and food security objectives that
recognize trade-offs and are nationally and locally relevant, and supplement
aspirational targets for biodiversity and food security.
Engage and influence existing and emerging policy frameworks (for example, the
CBD’s post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and the SDGs) that represent
opportunities to design, implement and monitor joint objectives.
Continue developing inclusive integrated management frameworks that rapidly move
to reference points consistent with ecosystem sustainability goals, promoting
stewardship and participatory management that effectively translate into action at all
scales.
Enhance the ability to monitor and report on ecological, economic and social
sustainability by incorporating information on ecosystems (including people),
drawing on diverse sets of knowledge (social, economic and biological sciences, and
local and traditional knowledge), disaggregated by gender.
Promote and strengthen diverse, inclusive and accountable partnerships to
effectively manage ecosystems for both biodiversity and food security.
Integrate market-based mechanisms with measures to protect non-market social and
ecological values that advance sustainability in fisheries management.
Implementation should build on previous experiences using these tools that help
achieve joint objectives and remain mindful of the specific context.
From tide to table: Fish in food security and nutrition
An estimated 690 million people – one in every nine – are undernourished.
Fish play a very significant role in our fight to secure food and nutrition for all.
People have never consumed as much fish as they do today: per capita global fish consumption has doubled
since the 1960s from 9.0 kg per year to 20.5 kg per year. Since 1961 the average annual growth rate of
global apparent food fish consumption has outpaced the one of the population and the one of meat consumption
from all terrestrial animals combined.
Today fish products provide
0 billion
people with almost 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein.
Plus, fish products provide a further
0 billion
people with about 15 percent of their per capita intake of animal protein.
Yet still, fish are under-represented in food and nutrition security
studies and policies
Despite the very significant role fish and fish products play in our fight to secure food and nutrition for
all, they are often separated from other parts of the food and agricultural systems in food security
studies, debates and policy-making. With demand for food due to increase by 60 percent by 2050 (FAO, 2017),
this needs to change.
Targeted research and policy reform would strengthen the role of fish in global nutrition efforts, but
linking the research and policy evades us to date. Elevating the role of fish in nutrition and food security
policy priorities, based on evidence, will help the sector fulfil its potential contribution to a
sustainable future for food.
Even though an estimated 690 million people are undernourished, placing food security and nutrition high on
global political agendas, nutrition attracts only a fraction of official development aid (below 1 percent in
2016).
Key messages
How fisheries can contribute to food security and nutrition
Use best available science to make food policy and nutrition action plans.
Improve data collection and analysis of aquatic food consumption and analysis of
nutrients and food safety (at species level, considering parts used, processing and
preparation methods).
Ensure that aquatic foods are reaching those who need them most, across diverse
communities within regions, and diverse individual needs within households – to ensure
that essential micronutrients, fatty acids and bioavailable proteins reach children,
women and men.
Deploy context-specific messaging through appropriate channels to encourage
consumption of diverse nutritious and sustainably produced aquatic foods.
Include aquatic foods in food systems policies, given their potential contribution
to addressing malnutrition in all forms.
Improve the utilization and stability of the aquatic food supply by supporting
disruptive technologies, social innovations and targeted risks to unleash new networks
of supply chain governance capable of empowering women-led businesses and being
inclusive and socially just.
This information comes from the International Symposium on Fisheries and Sustainability. Want to know more
about the role of fish in food security and nutrition? See the full symposium booklet and proceedings
SESSION 4
Securing sustainable fisheries livelihoods
Fisheries constitute a crucial source of income and livelihoods in the world today.
Maintaining the livelihoods and diversity of those dependent on fisheries requires addressing
environmental degradation, pollution, working conditions, and more.
More than 39 million people around the world are engaged in the primary sector of capture fisheries. When
adding the even larger number of people involved in pre- and post-harvest activities, it is clear that
fisheries constitute a crucial source of income and livelihoods in the world today. Moreover, around 47
percent of the total workforce in the small-scale fisheries are women, primarily in the post-harvest and
trade activities.
10 to 12% of the world’s population rely on fish for their livelihoods.
An estimated 5.8 million fishers in the world earn less than USD 1 per day
(2012).
Fisheries often underpin the economic and social fabric of coastal and rural communities, and are crucial for
community coherence and stability as well as for local economies.
Maintaining the livelihoods and diversity of those dependent on inland and marine capture fisheries value
chains requires addressing common vulnerabilities such as environmental degradation, pollution, competition
from other sectors, and severe working conditions.
There are several global instruments and frameworks on good governance which support fisheries livelihoods
including:
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
International Labour Organization (ILO) instruments
the Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) Guidelines
Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure (VGGT).
Also important are instruments that are relevant to fisheries but often not implemented in fisheries like
the:
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the 4th World Conference on Women
International Labour Organization C. 190: Convention Concerning the Elimination of Violence and
Harassment in the World of Work
These and other relevant instruments need to be fully recognized and applied to ensure sustainable
livelihoods in the sector.
Key messages
How to work towards securing sustainable and inclusive
fisheries-based livelihoods
Fully recognize and support the role of fisheries, in particular small-scale
fisheries, in income, culture, and food security and nutrition.
Recognize the role of women and prioritize achieving gender equality across the
value chain, including decision-making.
Empower fishing communities, strengthen participatory approaches and build
capacity. By developing and supporting inclusive institutions and small-scale fisheries
organizations, including those representing the rights of indigenous communities, women
and marginalized sectors of societies, local communities can participate in resource
planning, development and governance to secure access to resources and markets.
Modify data collection systems to include interdisciplinary and disaggregated data
to account for nutrition, well-being, gender and other dimensions beyond catch.
Encourage co-production of information with stakeholders to promote trust and
collaboration among governments, academia and small-scale fishing communities, and build
capacity to use information.
Promote approaches to fisheries development and governance that build on the
principles of the SSF Guidelines.
Ensure that actors along the value chain, in particular women and small-scale producers
and processors, have the capacity to seize opportunities and have access to benefits
and engage fully in sustainable and equitable food systems.
Encourage recognition of the role of small-scale fisheries in livelihoods, food and
nutrition to millions of people globally, and use the occasion of the
International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture in 2022 to raise the profile
of fisheries livelihoods.
Fish and fish products are among the most internationally traded food commodities.
About 38 percent of total fisheries and aquaculture production is exported while 78 percent is
exposed to international trade competition.
International trade has increased in recent decades, from USD 8 billion in 1976 to USD 164 billion in 2018.
Trade of fish and fish products generates major economic revenues. Plus, the fisheries sector generates
income for millions of people working in a range of industries and activities around the world –
particularly in developing countries, which are the main producers (74 percent of total capture fisheries),
consumers and also exporters.
However, the full contribution of the fisheries and aquaculture sector to the economy is often not adequately
documented.
Also, invisible unpaid or underpaid auxiliary work allows fishing activities by men to continue even when the
activity is not profitable (e.g., mending nets, net making, administration, selling); women’s or group
minority contribution to the workforce can bring problems when unpaid or not-registered work take place,
creating hidden inputs making a transparent price structure difficult.
Not only can knowledge gaps lead to sub-optimal planning and decisions by policymakers, but the lack of
sufficient economic and socio-economic data prevents the sector from making the necessary changes to allow
it to reach its full potential as a generator of long-term economic and social benefits.
Understanding this contribution is fundamental for achieving inclusive economic growth and development.
Key messages
On the economic sustainability of fisheries
Fishing is an economic activity, and the efficient and effective allocation and
utilization of scarce economic resources should be part of the policy discussion
also in the fisheries sector. The labour of women’s or group minority
contribution to the workforce can bring problems when unpaid or not-registered work take
place, creating hidden inputs making a transparent price structure difficult.
Improve the collection and analysis of economic data on the full impact of the
sector, especially on the contribution of women and the small-scale fisheries, to
support policymakers to make informed decisions.
Include economic considerations in policy trade-offs. Introducing market-based
instruments leads to higher financial efficiency and increased profitability for
operators, but reduces the number of jobs, necessitating the introduction of
social-support systems/flanking measures during the transition.
Increasing average age of fishers together with higher availability of technological
tools provide opportunities for sectoral restructuring and improved opportunities for
young and well-qualified people, leading to improved economic returns.
Promote trust across value-chain relationships. Fisheries management does not take
place in isolation and requires building awareness through participation in
sustainability at all levels of the supply chain, including consumers and fishers.
Define and allocate property rights and implement actions, based on local
contexts, to improve the economic performance of fisheries.
Recognize the role of women and disadvantaged groups in the value chain by achieving
equal pay and improving the inclusion and participation at all levels.
Mainstream inclusive polices to increase the role, well-being and working conditions
of all human capital in the sector.
Improve access to credit, finance and insurance, especially in the small-scale
subsector, and in particular for women entrepreneurs and operators from disadvantaged
groups.
Reduce waste and increase utilization by developing new products and markets.
Reduce and eliminate harmful subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and
overfishing.
Promote greater social responsibility in the fisheries value chain, working
together through public–private partnerships, and through international collaboration
with the ILO, IMO and others.
Fisheries management in the face of a changing climate
Climate change is affecting the distribution, productivity and seasonality of marine resources, with
implications for marine and inland fisheries.
Efforts to adapt to and to mitigate impacts should be planned and implemented with consideration of
the interconnected complexity of fisheries, and be people-centered.
Capture fisheries is the only major food production industry that relies upon the sustainable exploitation of
wild populations. The industry is therefore affected by natural fluctuations in resource abundance as a
result of complex physical, biological and ecological interactions.
Climate adds a new super-challenge to fisheries management as it adds a significant uncertainty to deal with.
This is because fisheries management strategies have been largely constructed under the premise that
populations fluctuate around a mean population size, and thus are built to ride the peaks and troughs. But
if climate change results in unidirectional changes, for example in the abundance, distribution and life
history of fishing resources, do we have the tools to adjust our management strategies accordingly?
The ocean has absorbed 93% of the additional heat produced by anthropogenic climate
change.
By 2100 up to 35 Exclusive Economic Zones will receive new transboundary stocks.
The impact of climate change on marine fisheries
Changes in marine fish catch potential vary by region. The biggest decreases can be expected in the tropics,
while for the high latitude regions catch potential is projected to either increase or show less of a
decrease than in the tropics.
It is expected that by 2100 up to 35 Exclusive Economic Zones will receive new transboundary stocks as a
result of distributional changes, presenting new challenges and opportunities for fishing nations, and
creating the potential for conflict over newly shared resources.
The impact of climate change on inland fisheries
Approximately 50 percent of inland fish species are threatened by climate change impacts including increasing
water temperatures, altered discharge and interactions between these and other stressors, such as invasive
species, pathogens and hydropower.
Key messages
A vision for the future - innovative adaptation and mitigation
Urgently implement transformative adaptation. Many fishers are already adapting,
but institutions and policies need to step-up. Learn from examples of successful
adaptation.
Respond to climate change by improving fisheries management through the
implementation of cross-sectoral, holistic and precautionary approaches that attain
robustness to variability, rather than stability.
Develop adaptive spatial management mechanisms that can help address shifts in
species distributions and changes in the seasonality of ecological processes.
Climate change will almost always result in winners and losers. This requires
negotiating trade-offs and building on climate justice, equity and ethical
considerations when taking decisions on the allocation of and access to
fisheries resources.
Diversify value chains by adding value to new or currently undervalued resources.
Promote market diversification to avoid weak links that result in low resilience to
changes and shocks. Educate consumers.
Design adaptation solutions that account for gender differences in terms of
vulnerability and build on the specific skills and the positive role women and youth can
play.
Invest in innovation to modify fishing, modern insurance alternatives, early
warning systems, communication, and the use of industry real-time data.
Fisheries information systems and new technologies
With increased demand for fish, competition for resources, and climate change, the demand for data
and information evolves.
New information technologies have the potential to change the way we interpret and communicate
fishery sustainability issues.
How effective are the current data collection and fisheries
information systems?
The fisheries sector generally remains a late adopter of novel information system technologies. The capacity
of many developing countries to adopt even basic technologies is often characterized as very low.
Inadequate collection frameworks and major data gaps are still widely encountered, holding back many
countries from properly assessing and tracking the status of their fisheries resources and designing
effective fisheries management policies and schemes.
The need to improve availability and use of fishery data, statistics, and information has been clearly
outlined in FAO’s State of World Fisheries and
Aquaculture. SDG targets constitute a unique opportunity to increase data generation, and improve
their quality, availability and usage in monitoring systems for policy guidance.
A vision of the future: what do emerging technologies need to
address?
Information technology (IT) is a swiftly innovating industry, and beyond a five-year time frame it is
difficult to predict what IT will look like and how far it will transform our monitoring and management
processes. However, it is clear that data are increasingly used to drive real time decisions.
Artificial intelligence will be empowered by the availability of a huge amount of heterogeneous data
produced, in large part by sensing technologies whose variety, distribution and purpose are growing
exponentially, from satellites, buoys, terrestrial and underwater vehicles, and citizens.
However, innovation in data driven technologies poses a number of risks – like trust and transparency,
ethical questions, and the divide between information and knowledge - that must be appropriately addressed.
Implementing new information technologies: obstacles and solutions
While governments and agencies in charge of fisheries monitoring and management have been historically
reluctant to open access to data systems, fish and fisheries data are rapidly becoming a public commodity.
The emergence of new technologies such as blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence and deep learning is
likely to significantly affect the established data value chain and to disrupt the sector’s management in
the short to medium term.
The role that the public sector at national, regional and global levels plays in this arena remains crucial.
By supporting strengthened governance and increased partnerships among data and technology providers, and
strategies for sustainability, the public sector can help achieve comprehensive, neutral and sharable data
feeds from local applications to global statistics and trends monitoring.
Key messages
On the role of innovation and new information technologies
Integrate data collection and supply chains. There is a strong need for developing
countries to invest in the capacity to collect, compile and analyze data in fully
integrated systems.
Promote online structures delivering analytic services, and invest in remote
sensing technologies, internet accessibility and sensors as ways to generate
new, real-time and inclusive knowledge.
Development of key simple and easy to collect data as a way to expand the
information on which to make fisheries management decisions.
Tackle institutional and regulatory barriers preventing the implementation of
effective fisheries information systems and data sharing, and consider open-data
policies governed by principles that are secure and transparent.
Build trusted knowledge from data. Develop well-defined, transparent and inclusive
processes to facilitate communication at the science–policy interface in order to ensure
that trusted sources of data and information (including indigenous ones) produce
credible, relevant and legitimate fisheries knowledge, openly accessible, at all scales.
Reduce the digital divide. Invest in mobile data collection and the use of
remote-sensing technologies, involve fisherfolk communities, including women and youth,
and empower them with services (including analytics) to improve their livelihoods and
facilitate ownership.
Support capacity building in the data supply chain, i.e. data collection, data
management and data analysis.
Develop international policy guidelines on how to develop and equitably utilize
emerging technologies and ensure FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable,
Reusable).
By supporting strengthened governance and increased partnerships among data and
technology providers, the public sector can help achieve comprehensive, neutral
and sharable data feeds from local applications to global statistics and trends
monitoring.
Policy opportunities for fisheries in the 21st century
Aquatic resources, although renewable, are not infinite.
They need to be properly managed if their contribution to the nutritional, economic and social
well-being of the growing world’s population is to be sustained.
Awareness of the importance of our oceans and inland waters has been growing, both within governments and
civil society; however, recognition of the many services they provide has only recently had a prominent
presence in the agenda of high-level political leaders.
There is now broad agreement that the governance frameworks for oceans and seas need to be reinforced to
secure ocean-based goods and services for future generations and to develop a truly sustainable blue
economy.
The international legal framework for the fisheries sector is now well established, both in areas under
national jurisdiction and the high seas, following the calls from the Code of Conduct for Responsible
Fisheries (1995) for cooperation and coordination at regional and global levels.
However, implementation of fisheries policies at national, regional and global level is uneven and has met
with mixed success. This is sometimes due to policy failures and sometimes due to implementation failures,
including lack of capacity or lack of resources.
Policies for the fisheries sector are not only about fish
The jobs created for both men and women as fish move from deck to dish help to eliminate poverty.
The fish caught provide food security and nutrition.
Well managed fisheries operating on an ecologically sustainable basis can contribute to poverty
eradication, economic well-being, cope with climate change, and facilitate peace and security.
When access to these natural resources and markets is recognized and secured for small-scale
artisanal fishers, the voices of competing sectors will be more equal, and gender equality will
be better served.
Key messages
Beyond the code of conduct: Policy opportunities in the 21st
century
Integrate fisheries into broader planning and governance frameworks that bring
multiple sectors together. Fisheries management cannot act in isolation, and
should be working alongside other more visible and economically valuable sectors.
Continue and intensify efforts to eradicate IUU fishing. In particular, all flag,
port, coastal and market States need to ratify and implement the PSMA.
Strengthen the political will and capacity to improve implementation of existing
policy frameworks, and support policy innovation for emerging challenges.
Ensure fisheries policy and management decisions are inclusive, promoting
scientific evidence and the recognition of local and traditional knowledge.
Improve public and governmental perception of fisheries to justify investment and
respond to criticism, thus increasing ownership of the fisheries agenda.
Increase accountability and build greater trust in the capacity and transparency of
the fisheries sector to be part of the solution.
Improve cohesion between fisheries and biodiversity conservation objectives.
Ensure livelihoods, well-being and decent work are fundamental goals in fisheries
governance and management, involving stakeholders, and securing rights and
access, while reconciling food security and supply objectives with conservation.
Ensure that efforts to develop the blue economy are based on sustainable development,
and incorporate the rights of those whose livelihoods depend on the sea now and for
future generations of fishers.
Improve gender equality, support to younger generations and capacity building in
fishers’ communities.
