The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) are the first international instrument dedicated entirely to the immensely important small-scale fisheries sector. They are the result of a long and intensive global bottom-up consultative process.
What makes the SSF Guidelines stand out is that they go beyond fisheries and highlight the rights of fishers and fish workers. In sum, they are about people, not just about fish. The SSF Guidelines are aimed at all actors striving to secure sustainable small-scale fisheries, to end hunger and poverty and strengthen human rights. They are a tool to guide dialogue, policy processes, and action at all levels, from local communities to global fora.
Get to know the SSF Guidelines
The principles in the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) address policies, strategies and legal frameworks concerning small-scale fisheries, but also other matters affecting lives and livelihood in fishing communities. They have a clear human rights-based approach, and they put people, rather than fish, in focus. The SSF Guidelines are global in scope, and they guide dialogue, policy processes and actions at national, regional and international level.
Latest news
FAO trains and builds the capacity of 510 leaders and members of TAWFA on Village Community Banks (VICOBA)
29/11/2024
FAO supports implementation of the SSF Guidelines in Tanzania: meetings held to review the progress of the Tanzania Women Fish-workers Association and the National Task Team
13/11/2024
Recent publications
A comparative analysis of the Global Action Plan of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019–2028 and the SSF Guidelines
30/11/2024
This publication aims to directly contribute to the development of an enabling policy environment to innovate, formulate and reform policy and legal frameworks to support the multidimensionality of small-scale aquatic food producers.
Review of the state of the world fishery resources - Inland fisheries | fourth edition
30/10/2024
This review analyzes trends of inland capture fisheries at global, continental and subcontinental levels, highlighting the crucial role these fisheries play in food security, nutrition, employment and local economies...
Other relevant instruments
- FAO's Blue Transformation
- The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
- The Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food (the Right to Food Guidelines)
- The CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (the RAI Principles)
- The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (the Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure)
- The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas
- The UN Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs)
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