The last of the series of IYAFA workshops was convened by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) in collaboration with Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) and Mulleres Salgadas (MuS). The regional workshop for Europe was held on November 13-16, 2023, in Galicia, Spain. With its participatory and effective co-management systems, Galicia was an apt location. The participants from 16 countries included representatives of fishworker organizations, civil society bodies and academia. There were concerted efforts to ensure the participation of women, indigenous peoples and youth. The workshop aimed to discuss the desirable governance transitions, issues pertaining to women in smallscale fisheries (SSF), and pathways of strengthening capacities of SSF and support organizations. It shaped inspiring narratives for the future of SSF, emphasizing the importance of desirable and equitable futures.

The workshop opened with remarks from the organizers Maarten Bavinck of ICSF, Dolores Gomez of MuS and Marta Cavelle of LIFE, followed by an introduction to the programme by the ICSF team. After an icebreaker, it started with an interactive session to mainstream visions of preferable and desirable futures for SSF in Europe. Organized by the Equal Sea Lab team from the University of Santiago de Compostela, the exercise lasted five hours in which the session dynamic alternated between plenary, working group sessions guided by facilitators and group presentations. Engaging and empathic stories were co-created, employing future thinking tools and storytelling; all these focused on the ways in which people relate to SSF and coastal-inland aquatic ecosystems. To transcend the limits of textual and verbal communication, Nove Noel, a local artist, developed a metaphoric and artistic outcome, capturing the core of discussions.