Reflections on the ICSF workshop and recommendations to India’s draft National Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy (NIFAP), September 2019. The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) organized a national workshop to discuss the draft National Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy (NIFAP), being finalized by India’s Union Ministry of Agriculture...

The World Rural Forum (WRF), with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), carried out a study to monitor the progress in the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 (UNDFF) through National and Regional / Subregional Action Plans on Family...

For the first time in Chile, a new type of autonomous social movement, including fishworker organizations, seeks to create a democratic and representative constitution. Three major organizations in Chile have rejected the Social Agenda for Artisanal Fishers that President Sebastián Piñera’s government had proposed. (The proposal is called ‘Agenda social para...

The full range of activities required to deliver fish and fish products from production to the final consumer is subject to indirect impacts of the pandemic through new sanitary measures, changing consumer demands, market access or logistical problems related to transportation and border restrictions. This in turn has a damaging...

Taiwan government proposes a national level Coastal Blue Economy Growth (CBEG) program to promote ocean- linked industries based on the concept of sustainable development. Sea farming development is considered an important aspect that needs to be promoted for the CBEG program. Generally, sea farming relies on artificial technologies, environmental improvement...

Interview of Mme Diaba Diop, general secretary of Pencum Sénégal (GÉF/ Women’s Economic Group). I became a fish processor when I left school. I had sat twice for the Bac (‘A’ Levels). My grandmother, who worked in that trade, was growing old. So I decided to join forces with her. By...

Artisanal fishers’ experiential knowledge contains qualities that can help the world face some of its most difficult problems including climate change. We need to value their wisdom. Most maritime countries have neglected and shunned their small-scale fisheries since the mid-1950s. This was done in the name of fisheries development, to make...

In 2013, the government of Nicaragua requested technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to formulate a strategy that improves the occupational safety of lobster fishermen, while also increasing the sustainability of fishing for this crustacean on the country’s North Caribbean Coast. Since then,...

The Darawa community in the Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, manages their octopus fishery by working tirelessly with community-based organizations. It was a beautiful and sunny Sunday. The Darawa village community in the Wakatobi National Park, in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi, was preparing to celebrate. The occasion was the first opening...

Women in the small scale fishing sector in Mexico are key drivers ensuring food security and community wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have surpassed all imaginable scenarios. The global crisis moves fast and changes quickly, hence forcing people to adapt and navigate through uncertainty as...

The President of the Association of Indigenous Communities of the Middle Negro River (ACIMRN), Sandra Gomes, speaks about the challenges indigenous communities face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Negro River in the Amazon region is the largest black water river in the world. Its basin area of approximately 750,000 sq....

Women in fisheries can utilize the SSF Guidelines to advance their interests, even as they relate to one another and build up solidarity and a common vision. Over the last several years, many fishworker organizations have been engaged in spreading awareness among the fishing communities on the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing...

The fishing industry in south-central Vietnam relies on co-management and the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EAFM) to sustain the health of coastal marine areas. Vietnam’s 3,260-km coastline hosts a diversity of marine resources such as coral reefs and seagrass beds as well as more than 1,080 species of fish. The...

This photo-essay depicts the practice of aratu fishing carried out by women in the mangroves of northeastern Brazil. Aratu (Goniopsis cruentata) are small, reddish crustaceans that live on the branches of mangroves. They are processed and sold, the sweetness of the meat making them a prized delicacy. Aratu fishing is carried out...

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SDG 5. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. How has progress towards...

At the core of the unique flavours and tastes of the East Java cuisine of Indonesia is the traditional artisanal fish processing technique of pindang. Sumenep Regency is located at the eastern end of the Madura Islands in Indonesia’s East Java province. It is known for its large fishery and marine...

Lovin Kobusingye is a well-known young woman fish entrepreneur working in Central Uganda’s Wakiso District. For over eight years, she, along with her two partners and over a thousand other fish farmers, has worked on fish processing and value addition. At the same time, she has persistently lobbied the government...

Since its outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, COVID-19 has spread to 202 countries and territories, leading to 14,508,892 confirmed cases and 606,206 deaths as on 20 July, 2020. ICSF SAMUDRA and DC daily news alerts have tracked the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on fisheries value chains since...

Yemaya No. 60, dated April 2020, features articles from India, Costa Rica, Japan, European Union, and a special supplement, Turning Points: A decade of change for women in fisheries. The article from India details the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women fishworkers in Mumbai. The Costa Rican article shows...

The Yemaya Supplement, Turning Points: A decade of change for women in fisheries, focuses on a change that has happened over a decade: a truthful appreciation of women’s role in fisheries. Their involvement in the sector follows a similar arc the world over, despite wide differences in society, culture, politics...