Across the world, more than a year since it first struck, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take lives, destroy livelihoods and paralyse economies with unprecedented lockdowns and supply chain disruptions. Lockdown and physical distancing measures in particular impact vulnerable small-scale fishers; the frequent disruption of economic activity is an enormous challenge for sustenance of the small-scale fishery activity, which is based on small margins and business turnover. Women fishers in particular have been hard hit; the pandemic has served to intensify systematic inequalities that have always discriminated against them. The safeguard of their rights, in particular livelihood rights, is critical for the sustainability in the fishing sector during this difficult period.