Providing new evidence to drive positive policy change
Illuminating Hidden Harvests (IHH) is a global initiative by FAO, Duke University, and WorldFish and since 2025 Stanford University (Center for Ocean Solutions and Environmental Social Sciences Department) and Michigan State University. It aims to generate and disseminate new evidence about the benefits, interactions and impacts of small-scale fisheries to inform management and policies. IHH also aims to develop capacities at national and regional levels to support the uptake and use of the new evidence and approaches towards small-scale fisheries sustainability.
The IHH initiative helps to inform all levels of policy-making processes and contributes to empowering fishing communities, their organizations, and advocates to make a strong case for productive, sustainable and equitable small-scale fisheries.
In this way, the IHH initiative supports the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication and progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.A key output of the IHH initiative was a major report, which provides a snapshot of the diverse contributions of small-scale fisheries globally. The report—which draws on diverse data sources, 58 country case studies, and 104 government questionnaires—represents a novel, multidisciplinary approach to assess and understand small-scale fisheries. The report is complemented by peer-reviewed papers compiled in a Nature collection on small-scale fisheries. To facilitate national and regional uptake, the IHH initiative supports, among other, the production of national infographics, policy briefs, additional research and organizes capacity development workshops.
What are “hidden harvests”?
In many instances, small-scale fishery activities are informal and not counted. And because most small-scale fisheries are diverse and dispersed, fully measuring their contributions is difficult. Often, information on small-scale fisheries (such as catch, employment, nutritional contribution, and governance arrangements) is not included nor disaggregated in official statistics—neither is it explicitly accounted for when designing national, regional, and global policies. As long as data on small-scale fisheries remains “hidden”, they will continue to be marginalized in policy-making processes, decision making and management.
Other IHH publications
IHH brief
This brief provides an update on the status of the study and shares emerging insights on the need for better data collection and analysis, and additional monitoring capacity to improve our collective understanding of small-scale fisheries. This is critical to increasing government attention and improving policy responses and outcomes for the sector.
IHH questions and answers
On 23 November 2021, FAO, Duke University and WorldFish hosted two 90-minute webinars to share a first look at some findings from the IHH report due out in early 2022. The findings provided a snapshot of some of the environmental, economic, social, and governance contributions of marine and inland small-scale fisheries at global and local scales.
IHH key findings
This brief presents the main results from the Illuminating Hidden Harvests (IHH) report, providing new, clearer insights to support the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
IHH executive summary
lluminating Hidden Harvests: the contributions of small-scale fisheries to sustainable development (hereinafter IHH) is a global study uncovering the contributions and impacts of small-scale fisheries through a multidisciplinary approach to data collection and analysis. This document provides the executive summary of the IHH study.
Applying the Illuminating Hidden Harvests approach
This document has been adapted from the research protocol used to compile country case study data and to produce the results summarized in the Illuminating Hidden Harvests report. It aims to support practitioners and researchers in compiling data and assess the contributions and impacts of small-scale fisheries.
Report of the workshop on “How to leverage the IHH approach for better small-scale fisheries data"
The workshop on How to leverage the Illuminating Hidden Harvests approach for better small-scale fisheries data explored how the results and methodology of the study Illuminating Hidden Harvests: The contributions of small-scale fisheries to sustainable development study (IHH) can be leveraged to support the improvement of small-scale fisheries data, with a view to inform management and policy.
Improving our knowledge on small-scale fisheries: data needs and methodologies
Small-scale fisheries play an important role in contributing to food security, nutrition, livelihoods and local and national economies. However, there is often limited data and information available (or not easily accessible) on their contributions, and hence small scale fisheries tend to be overlooked and marginalized in policy processes, leading to low levels of support for the sector.
Funded by
The IHH initiative has been funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Oak Foundation and CGIAR Trust Fund, with support from the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems.
