The incessant noise over ‘Blue Economy’ and ‘Blue Growth’ leaves artisanal and small-scale fishers dazed and confused. This report works through that confusion. It draws on scholarship from the trenches and the research centres across ten Latin American countries. From extensive interviews, policy reviews, analyses of finances and online datasets....

The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has published a study that analyzes how the so-called ‘Blue Economy’ discourses and practice plays out from the perspectives of small-scale, artisanal fishworkers in ten Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panamá, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. The study, titled...

Women and men play important roles throughout the fish value chain, and also for the conservation of aquatic resources. However, there is little recognition of women’s valuable contribution to the fisheries sector. Women glean and collect seafood from the mangroves. Women clean and process the fish. Women sell fish products...

This study tries to discuss issues relating to both internal and external cost. Through information leaned from literature, onsite observation, and actual discussion with stakeholders, this study attempts to draw attention to the impacts of aquaculture on the environment, on the lives of the people dependent on these environments, and...

Whilst conjecture remains regarding the quantity of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) entering the ocean, ALDFG is recognised as the most harmful form of marine plastic litter irrespective of whether it has been intentionally discarded or accidentally lost – harming vulnerable species, damaging fragile habitats as well...

En el marco del Año Internacional de la Pesca y la Acuicultura Artesanales (2022), y con el apoyo de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO) y Organización del Sector de la Pesca y la Acuicultura del Istmo Centroamericano (OSPESCA), se instauró la nueva...

The Mediterranean Sea is being invaded by hundreds of fish, jellyfish, prawns and other marine species from outside the region. More than 1 000 non-indigenous species have been identified in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Over half have established permanent populations and are spreading, causing concern about the threat they...

The project “Developing Organizational Capacity for Ecosystem Stewardship and Livelihoods in Caribbean Small-Scale Fisheries” (StewardFish) aimed to support the implementation of the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems initiatives in seven countries of the Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the...

This course is part of the series on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF). It features the EAF Implementation Monitoring Tool (EAF-IMT), a simple method to monitor progress in implementation of the EAF in fisheries management, that aims to support fisheries management planning and decision-making. This course was designed to...

Amplifying women’s voices: Margaret Nakato’s important work in organising women in small-scale fisheries in Uganda has received international recognition. Margaret Nakato, Executive Director of the Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT), Uganda, was awarded the prestigious Margarita Lizárraga Medal for the biennium 2020-2021, at  the launch event of the International Year of...

Similar to the Foodnected project, Local Catch is a North American network of fishing families/businesses/communities, researchers, non-profit organizations, technical assistance providers, and decision-makers. We had the great opportunity to speak with Jordan Richardson – the network coordinator and Brett Tolley – the national programme coordinator for the Northwest Atlantic Marine...

Women’s capacity for entrepreneurship calls for more opportunities in alternative livelihoods to be made available for women in the coastal villages of Kuching, Sarawak. Coastal research in Sarawak, Malaysia, typically, does not target gender. Some projects have added gender-segregated data, but gender studies in fisheries generally remain unfunded. Given the difficulty...

A business case for applying a gender lens in fisheries businesses. In a business sense, fisheries and aquaculture are slotted in the category of food and beverage manufacturing. As in any other sector, investor demand and regulatory pressure are driving the growing push towards advancing gender diversity and inclusion and integrating...

Recognising the lack of clarity and therefore consensus on basic terminology, this article attempts to define some common terms used in discussions around gender and labour in fisheries. Towards a common understanding on gender and labour in fisheries, we define some basic terms commonly used when applying a gender lens to...

In communities and families, women bear the brunt of the negative impacts of men’s forced labour on fishing vessels.  A Typically, work related to overcoming labour exploitation at sea does not include women but, given the serious impact of such exploitation on families and communities, this project not only recognised but...

This study analyzes the trends and determines the comparative advantage and competitiveness of India’s fish and fishery products trade in the world market and of India’s exports to 10 major destinations over the period of 2000–2021. We use the revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) index to quantify India’s comparative advantage...

The Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative (ASIC) and its partners have developed a voluntary social and gender standard for the small-scale fisheries and aquaculture sector. Between 10 and 12 per cent of the world’s population depends on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods and nutrition. In the past decade, investigative reports have...

A range of critical issues confront women in small-scale fisheries, the most basic being the under-recognition of women’s contributions. Since the 1990s, there has been an increased awareness that women do fish. However, there still is a deep-seated perception that “real” fishing is done by men while women merely play a...

ICSF’s Archives/Digital library contains ICSF’s collections of more than three decades, built up since ICSF’s documentation centre was set up in Chennai in 1999 with the twin objectives of gathering all kinds of information pertinent to small-scale fisheries and making it available to all stakeholders in an easy and rapid-access...

The Island of Sea Women: A Novel by Lisa See, 2019, 384 pages, Simon & Schuster Ltd, New York,, ISBN: 978 1 5011 54867 “Every woman who enters the sea, carries a coffin on her back. In this undersea world we tow the burdens of a hard life. We are crossing...