The reforms needed by small-scale fishers in the Philippines pivot around the role of the municipal administration in handling fisheries development and the welfare of fisherfolk. Fishing in the Philippines is crucially dependent on small-scale fisheries as a sector that is anchored in local communities that have historic links to adjacent...

A survey of fisherfolk in the Indian state of West Bengal shows that relief measures for natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic must take into account long-standing vulnerabilities. The two most important concepts to set the agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs) are ‘social development’ and ‘sustainable management’. The...

Lobster exports in Nicaragua grew 34 percent between 2015 and 2019; the most productive zone is the Caribbean coast, part of the territory of the indigenous communities of the Miskitu, Sumu-Mayangna, Rama and Ulwa peoples, and of Afro-descendants, such as the Creole and Garífuna. In this area, artisanal and commercial lobster catch...

It is high time that negotiations on subsidies at the WTO result in an agreement whose primary goal is transparency and universality in fisheries conservation and management measures. The draft Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (WT/MIN(21)/W/5) from the Chair of the Negotiation Group on Rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), ought...

Though Kerala and Tamil Nadu are top performers on the Human Development Index, their advances in sustainability and social development do not reach small-scale fishers. Social development of fishing communities can be made possible only through policies and services for poverty eradication, employment generation and social inclusion that address the specific...

Fishers in Thailand have formed the Fishers Rights Network to collectively demand better wages and working conditions to prevent labour and human-rights abuses. Despite international pressure and government efforts to revise policy, Burmese and Cambodian migrant fishers in Thailand’s seafood industry still face significant labour-rights abuses. While there have been some...

Improving the lot of small-scale and artisanal fisheries in Costa Rica will lead to the betterment of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and other vulnerable groups. Located in Central America, Costa Rica is a country where only one-tenth of its territory is made up of land. Official data shows the territorial extension of...

A study has come up with specific recommendations for the development and welfare of the fisheries sector and its small-scale fisher communities in Bangladesh, the ‘Land of Rivers’. With 230 rivers coursing through the country, Bangladesh is called the ‘Land of Rivers’. It also has the world’s largest flooded wetland. Rivers...

While tourism is the mainstay of the economy of the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, fisheries reforms will give them resilience from developments like COVID-19. Human-rights principles in small-scale fisheries were officially established with the publication in 2015 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) of...

The growing global opposition to destructive salmon farming has found vocal expression in Chile and Argentina, highlighting issues related to labour and working conditions. The industrial salmonid monoculture in Chile has a history of more than three decades of productive and territorial expansion in the country’s waters, which has transformed the...

The post-COVID-19 lockdowns did not just hit fishing operations and markets in Cambodia but also resulted in nutritional insecurity for the most vulnerable small-scale fishers. By April 2021 Cambodia had recorded more than 2,500 cases of COVID-19 and 16 deaths. The government closed schools, discouraged mass gatherings and restricted travel from...

Natural disasters like cyclones, more than the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with lack of research on the conditions of the poor, threaten the well-being of small-time fishers in Mozambique. When the COVID-19 pandemic landed on Mozambique shores last year, it found a country in dire need of socioeconomic renewal and welfare reform....

In 2017, the 72nd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA) proclaimed 2022 as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022), with the FAO serving as the lead UN agency. The objectives of IYAFA 2022 are as follows: Enhance global awareness about, understanding of, and action...

Mike Abaka-Edu, President of the Western Region branch of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC), makes a compelling case for banning ‘saiko’ fishing in this interview with Peter Adjei, a Member of ICSF. The Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) was formed in 1982 with the objective of promoting the...

Through a mix of downplaying, intransparency and undertesting, the largest archipelago nation in the world paid little heed to its vulnerable fishers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Edy, a fisherman on Indonesia’s Pari island said: “For almost three months we did not travel outside the island. Earlier, we got additional income from...

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the fisher economy of Sri Lanka, leaving households indebted and distressed, co-operatives emerged as a beacon for the small-scale fishing sector’s well-being. Close to 350,000 kg of fish is brought everyday to the Peliyagoda Central Fish market, on the outskirts of Colombo, the capital of Sri...

The lived experiences of women fisherfolk in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic reveal how invisible they remain in policies and programmes. Despite the significant size of the fishing industry in the Philippines and the fact that fish is a huge part of Filipino diets, fisherfolk remain among the poorest in...

Although this year’s edition of the much-lauded Pêcheurs du Monde film festival in Lorient, France, had to virtually reinvent itself, the outcome was a rich and intense experience of visual delight. The 12th edition of the Pêcheurs du Monde film festival, traditionally held in Lorient, France, could not take place in...

A recent documentary on fisheries and its impacts on the marine environment has grabbed widespread global attention for not only what it says but also for what it does not address. The recently released Netflix documentary Seaspiracy (2021) has sparked a frenzy of discussion in various media outlets and on social...

On 21 March 2020, ten days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a pandemic, a voluntary closure was imposed on all fishing and fish marketing activities in Kollam in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Shot during the peak of the first wave of Covid-19 in India, this...