While small-scale fishers in Indonesia have not been hit by COVID-19 infections, the lockdown measures and economic policies have left them more vulnerable. The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has forced changes across the world. After cases spread rapidly outside Wuhan, China since January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as...

Special edition: Asia and the Pacific;  This month a special edition of the SSF Update. Come with us to Asia and the Pacific and learn about work in the region to implement the SSF Guidelines!

For many years, Yemaya has been carrying articles related to the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), a mass based association of small-scale fisher people from across the world, founded in 1997 by a number of mass based organisations from the Global South. WFFP was established in response to the...

Small-scale fisheries are important for the food security of the United States. Yet relief measures during the COVID-19 pandemic favour industrial operators, and are unsustainable. When the global COVID-19 pandemic hit the US in March 2020, no one knew for certain what it would mean for the seafood industry, let alone...

Apart from exposing vulnerable indigenous communities to infection, COVID-19 threatens a programme that provides livelihood to the vulnerable and helps conserve freshwater fish species. Indigenous people and rural communities in Brazil’s Amazon region have been dramatically hit by COVID-19. A note issued on 10 June by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations...

Fifty-year-old Jharna Acharya is a social activist and a popular name among the Sabar, Lodha and Baiga communities of Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram districts of West Bengal. Her father, Kashinath Acharya, was a well-known activist of his district and had a profound influence on her life. He was associated with the...

Not only is fish an important part of nutrition in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), but it is also a major–and unrecognized–element of trade. Fish and fish products are a primary source of protein and essential nutrients in the human diet. Various fish and other aquatic species are available from...

Early in the Scottish summer, the traditional herring trade starts to flourish. Shoals move from Shetland in the north towards Great Yarmouth in southern England. Fleets of Scottish fishing boats follow the shoals south and haul in their catch. From 1860 onwards, these journeys were further mirrored on land by...

Access to affordable small fish is key to achieving zero hunger and improved nutrition in Ghana’s poor urban households, a new study shows. Small fish are indeed the backbone of Ghana’s animal protein supply in the poor urban neighbourhoods of Accra (such as Nima, Chorkor, Ga Mashie and James Town) and...

Markets Collapse and Fishers Left without Social Protection

IIMRO’s proposals to support fishing communities

Fishers are fighting the storm, locked down and chained up. 

SAMUDRA Report No. 82, dated February 2020, features articles on fisheries from around the world. The current issue has extensive analysis and commentary on the Blue Economy and Blue Growth. The article from Seychelles analyzes the several contradictions in the conservation initiative of the country’s Blue Bond scheme, while the...

Appel urgent de la PPPAF sur le Thon Rouge

Healthy oceans and coastal communities cannot exist without investments in the long-term sustainability, social development and values of small-scale fisheries

Fishers find their voice in the Netherlands: their traditional gear is finally recognized.

While Seychelles Blue Bond scheme for conservation funding is often portrayed in glowing terms, the initiative has several inherent contradictions

Without proper implementation of the SSF Guidelines, plans for the Blue Economy and Blue Growth will come to naught for small-scale fisheries. The European Union presents the Blue Economy and Blue Growth as follows: “Europe can unlock the untapped potential for growth in its blue economy while safeguarding biodiversity and protecting...

Lutte contre le braconnage et la pêche illégale  

Sri Lanka’s National Fisheries Policy needs to be remodelled to incorporate the SSF Guidelines in order to attain the goal of securing sustainable small-scale fisheries. The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development (MFARD) of Sri Lanka recently prepared a White Paper on National Fisheries Policy in 2018, which was approved...