Workshop on improving our knowledge on small-scale fisheries: Data needs and methodologies

In 2012, the World Bank, FAO and WorldFish Centre published Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture Fisheries. This was a review of the economic importance of fisheries and while providing essential information and estimates that are still valid, the analyses would benefit from being refined and updated and including additional dimensions of the contribution of small-scale fisheries to food security and nutrition, poverty reduction and the three pillars of sustainable development more broadly. The intention of an updated study would be to draw the attention of policy and decision-makers to the sector's importance and promote the required engagement and support to realise the potential of sustainable small-scale fisheries. Such an analysis would also be an important contribution towards monitoring of the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (the SSF Guidelines)and of the progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As a first step towards a new Hidden Harvest study, the "Workshop on improving our knowledge on small-scale fisheries: data needs and methodologies" was held in FAO, Rome, Italy on 27-29 June 2017. This expert workshop discussed:

• The scope and main contents of the new study, including type of data (indicators) to be collected and subsector coverage; and
• The methodologies for data collection and analyses, including key partners and information sources.

About 40 external experts as well as FAO staff – from the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department and other relevant FAO departments – participated in the workshop. The workshop agreed on the need for a comprehensive new study to illuminate the hidden contributions of small-scale fisheries to the three dimensions of sustainable development and to identify the key threats to these contributions. The study should be a collaborative effort and the next steps envisaged include the development of a study design based on the workshop outcomes (to be completed by the end of 2017), continuation of ongoing communications and partnership development, and launch of the research in early 2018, with a target for completion in the first half of 2019.

The workshop report is under preparation and will be published soon.