“If you want to maintain a sustainable supply of fish you have to farm the fish, rather than mine them. So putting your money into fishing fleets that are going to exacerbate the problem by over-fishing is not the way to preserve the underlying asset.”
-Maurice Strong
In this post we would like to address the challenges and opportunities faced by small scale fisheries on a national and local level.
Small scale fishers face many challenges; which severely threaten their livelihood and sustainability due to their vulnerability as a result of utilizing primitive, labour intensive methods. Some of these challenges are:
Pollution: sewage, plastics, oil spills and other waste that contaminate the water lie closer to the shores. Since small scale fishers do not possess the necessary technology to fish away from the shores, as large scale fishers, they are unable to benefit from cleaner, fresher waters.
Over exploitation of the fish resources and destructive fishing methods by the large scale fisheries: overexploitation of a scarce resource; such as the fish stock, can have detrimental effects on not only small scale fishers, but also other stakeholders.
Globalization: even though globalization is necessary for a country to achieve economic growth, this phenomenon can impose disadvantage to local small scale fisheries. This is so because the added competition of foreign large and small scale fisheries can force local small scale fisheries to withdraw from the industry, thus making them worst off.
Access to markets: small scale fisheries are usually found in small rural communities. As a result, the sale of their catch is usually restricted to their own subsistence use and the community use; since it may not be feasible to even consider a bigger market such as other vicinities locally because of storage and transportation costs.
Deprivation of Land: small scale fisheries do not have access to the same amount and quality of sea and river locations as large scale farmers because of financial and other constraints.
Those are just some of the main challenges faced by the SSF, which directly and indirectly threaten their sustainability. This sector should therefore be protected and given preference in order to prevent any further increase in poverty.
Opportunities for SSF are seldom self-initiated due to financial constraints and lack of skilled labour. However, opportunities can arise from government intervention; such as: subsidies, price ceilings, easy credit, informative workshops and protection of local SSF from the added competition of the international market.
A major opportunity that the government can pursue in order to benefit SSF is to facilitate ‘fish farming’; which addresses the issues of their inability to venture out on sea and over exploitation of the fish stock. Fish farming is basically a technique whereby fish is reared in a tank under controlled conditions. This method will not deplete the fish stock in the sea, nor will it destroy the environment. In addition, fish farming alleviates some of the risks and insecurities that SSF have on sea. However, introducing this technique to SSF will require three major actions from the government:
Educating and training the SSF.
Provision of subsidies and easy credit to launch this initiative.
Monitoring the transition of SSF to this new method.
Fish farming, once initiated, creates many opportunities for SSF simply by being able to provide fish to a larger market. This approach, as ‘small’ as it might seem, will help to sustain SSF; as well as provide a closer step to achieve food security.
Fábio H. V. Hazin D.Sc (Year Unknown) The Sixth Meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process On Oceans and the Law of the Sea- Fisheries and their Contribution to Sustainable Development: Small Scale and Artisanal Fishing.
“If you want to maintain a sustainable supply of fish you have to farm the fish, rather than mine them. So putting your money into fishing fleets that are going to exacerbate the problem by over-fishing is not the way to preserve the underlying asset.”
-Maurice Strong
In this post we would like to address the challenges and opportunities faced by small scale fisheries on a national and local level.
Small scale fishers face many challenges; which severely threaten their livelihood and sustainability due to their vulnerability as a result of utilizing primitive, labour intensive methods. Some of these challenges are:
Those are just some of the main challenges faced by the SSF, which directly and indirectly threaten their sustainability. This sector should therefore be protected and given preference in order to prevent any further increase in poverty.
Opportunities for SSF are seldom self-initiated due to financial constraints and lack of skilled labour. However, opportunities can arise from government intervention; such as: subsidies, price ceilings, easy credit, informative workshops and protection of local SSF from the added competition of the international market.
A major opportunity that the government can pursue in order to benefit SSF is to facilitate ‘fish farming’; which addresses the issues of their inability to venture out on sea and over exploitation of the fish stock. Fish farming is basically a technique whereby fish is reared in a tank under controlled conditions. This method will not deplete the fish stock in the sea, nor will it destroy the environment. In addition, fish farming alleviates some of the risks and insecurities that SSF have on sea. However, introducing this technique to SSF will require three major actions from the government:
Fish farming, once initiated, creates many opportunities for SSF simply by being able to provide fish to a larger market. This approach, as ‘small’ as it might seem, will help to sustain SSF; as well as provide a closer step to achieve food security.
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