As climate change continues to impact fishing communities, the international climate regime needs to do more to safeguard the community. At COP 26, it did not. Last November, 120 world leaders and over 40,000 participants gathered in Glasgow for two weeks of meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...

For generations, it was mistakenly viewed as a man’s world. Women have always been there, but fisheries and aquaculture are now seeing a surge in women starting their own businesses in all areas of the sector. Today, more than 50 million women are involved in fisheries and aquaculture around the world...

The IPCC’s sixth assessment report says small-scale fishers are among the people on the planet most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. An estimated 90 per cent of all people directly dependent on marine and inland capture fisheries work in the small-scale fisheries sub-sector. They are largely rooted in local...

Meeting in Mumbai, women fishworkers of the coastal districts of the Indian State of Maharashtra drew up an agenda to advocate for their rights and livelihoods. In December 2021, a dozen women from the coastal districts of the western Indian State of Maharashtra assembled in the capital, Mumbai. All experienced fishworker...

Across the world, small-scale fishers have set examples of leadership to meet the environmental challenge. Now, a university initiative documents such exemplary efforts. Small-scale fishers (SSF) have a long history of environmental stewardship and conservation of their local environments, safeguarding natural resources and local livelihoods. Such efforts need greater recognition and...

The year 2022 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. In Africa, artisanal fisheries employ more than ten million men and women, and feed more than 200 million Africans. African fisheries, 75 per cent of which are artisanal, are the largest...

The International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022) was launched in the Pacific Islands, during an event today to mark the occasion, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Pacific fishers, the Pacific Community (SPC) and INFOFISH. The IYAFA 2022 year-long regional campaign will highlight...

The following is the text of the ICSF statement submitted to the 24th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-24) on 23 March 2022 at Geneva, Switzerland. ICSF welcomes the Chair’s draft recommendation to the Conference of Parties (CBD/SBSTTA/24/CRP.2). Recognizing the...

Dedicated to “the Ancestors who stewarded the ocean” an interactive story map created by the Pacific Sea Garden Collective reawakens traditional ways of harvesting food from the sea from Panama to Australia to the Pacific Northwest.

The country’s commitment to providing for and protecting all communities and its diversity, while admirable, has thus far been ineffective. Enacted policies have failed to make much headway, due to a lack of co-ordination between different government institutions. The country’s rural development efforts have mostly been directed towards the agriculture...

Recent years have seen Brazil’s social and environmental policies weakened and dismantled at a frightening scale. Rights violations, lack of access to benefits, and a complete disregard for the sector during the pandemic has led to a rise in inequality and poverty. Our research confirms a lack of government initiative...

Levedy Céleste Lossangoye developed a passion for fish farming at an early age. She grew up surrounded by fish ponds on her family’s fish farm in Andem in the Central African country of Gabon. Located around 60 kilometres from Libreville, the country’s capital, her family’s farm has 21 ponds across...

The document is a brief of showcase of a specific aquaculture innovation. It contains main information on the technique and approach used, scope and scale of application, accessibility and the outcome and benefits of the innovation. Aquaculture has traditionally been carried out in freshwater and coastal areas. This causes pressures including...

The social pillar of sustainable development ought to be strengthened to protect the future of lives and livelihoods in the small-scale fisheries subsector  

ICSF’s Bangkok workshop was a vibrant start to a series of international events to commemorate the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022)

The following Statement was made at the ‘Asia Workshop: IYAFA 2022-Celebrating Sustainable and Equitable Small-Scale Fisheries’, organized by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) and the Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF) at Bangkok, Thailand from 5 to 8 May, 2022

Fisheries and aquaculture contribute to food security and livelihoods of millions of people in Asia. Both women and men are engaged in fisheries and aquaculture. In the past ten years, many actors have worked on raising awareness on women’s contribution as well as promoting gender equality in fisheries and aquaculture....

Representatives of small-scale fishing communities – the most numerous ocean users –launch a Call to Action at the United Nations Ocean Conference 2022. The Second United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 2022), hosted by the governments of Portugal and Kenya, brought together 6,000 participants in Lisbon from June 27 to July 1....

The 35th session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI-35) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was organized in the hybrid mode on September 5-9 at the FAO headquarters in Rome. The committee reviewed current issues and challenges related to fisheries and aquaculture. The meeting reaffirmed...

The occasion was the 35th Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI-35), the intergovernmental forum of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The purpose was to review and discuss issues and challenges related to fisheries and aquaculture. Campaigners for the rights of small-scale fishers and Indigenous...