Rome, 19 July – The Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI) shared experience and best practices during the Center for Maritime Research (MARE) 2023 People and the Sea Conference held in Amsterdam from 26-30 June.

“Knowledge sharing is a key part of CFI, which covers six countries in three continents,” explained CFI Global Coordinator and FAO Fishery Officer, Ms Fatou Sock.

“By sharing knowledge and good practices, we can help drive their replication and scaling up, both nationally and across borders. The goal is to achieve sustainable fisheries and better livelihoods for fishing communities in thriving ecosystems,” said Ms Sock.

CFI experts gave overviews of co-management with Indigenous peoples as a pathway to equitable blue governance in Indonesia, legal reform to protect blue livelihoods and coastal ecosystems in West Africa, Cabo Verde’s new National Gender Strategy for Fisheries, and how community-based savings and credit unions in Peru promote the financial inclusion and economic empowerment of women.

Participants also learned about the Fisheries Performance Assessment Toolkit (FPAT) and how it can help fisheries managers make informed decisions for sustainable practices.

Co-management based on Sasi for equitable blue governance

“Sasi means to forbid,” explained Mr Yayan Hernuryadin from the Indonesian Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), which implements CFI Indonesia in partnership with the WWF.

“It is an ancestral teaching in Eastern Indonesia that forbids people to take resources, such as fish, when the resources are depleted or damaged, in order to let them recover,” he said.

The MMAF pursues a policy of integrating traditional Sasi fishing grounds into its coastal zoning plans, thereby guaranteeing Indigenous peoples’ rights and responsibilities over their resources.

Co-management between fishing communities and authorities is a viable option in countries like Indonesia, which lacks the manpower and the funds to monitor and manage the entirety of the coastlines along its 17 504 islands, Mr Hernuryadin explained.

Legal reform for sustainable fisheries

In her presentation, Legal Consultant Luisa Borges explained how CFI helped fill gaps and identify the main challenges in national fisheries legislation in Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

Legal assessments helped identify juridical and political blockages to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), gender equality, human rights protection, and the degree of alignment with international instruments, such as the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF), the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) and gender.

Following the assessments, CFI juridical experts made recommendations that were debated with communities and authorities. These debates resulted in proposed new legal texts in each country.

“It was an inclusive and participatory process that created new spaces for dialogue between artisanal fishers and fish workers and decision-makers,” Ms Borges explained.

Overcoming gender constraints in artisanal fisheries

The legal assessments led to a successful outcome in Cabo Verde, which recently approved a National Gender Strategy for Fisheries, explained Assistant FAO Representative in Cabo Verde, Ms Katya Neves.

Ms Neves gave an overview of why women in small-scale fisheries are often trapped in cycles of poverty: from low-paid, informal working conditions to low educational levels, little or no social protection and no access to financing and technology. She pointed to Cabo Verde’s new National Gender Strategy as a virtuous example of how a country can empower women.

“Why do we need a gender equality strategy in fisheries?” said Ms Neves. “Because it gives women a voice. It enables them to take part in decision-making, and facilitates their access to resources and benefits.”

Community-based savings and credit unions empower fisherfolk

Another powerful tool that has been shown to improve the livelihoods of artisanal fisherfolk are community-based Savings and Credit Unions (UNICAs, in their Spanish acronym). They were implemented successfully at CFI pilot sites in Peru, where many households have few or no financial or social safety nets, explained CFI Latin America Coordinator Miguel Maldonado.

The UNICA model is voluntary and membership is self-selective; each member buys shares of a common interest-bearing fund, and interest is distributed among members on a periodic basis. As well, members can take out loans to face external shocks (accidents, illness) or to invest in their activities (boat repair, alternative livelihoods).

It has proved effective in the economic empowerment of fisherfolk with little or no financial knowledge or access to bank credit – especially women, many of whom set up small businesses, contributing to household well-being and diversifying their sources of income. Another positive aspect of the UNICAs is that they provide a financial cushion during biological rest periods, functioning as incentives to sustainable fisheries.

The FPAT helps fisheries managers make informed decisions

FAO International Fishery Analyst and CFI consultant, Ms Lena Westlund, explained the advantages of the FPAT, which helps diagnose a fishery’s ecological, social, economic and governance attributes based on the so-called “triple bottom line” of community, ecology and economics.

“More than 80% of global fisheries lack adequate statistical data in order to be managed properly, and this can lead to paralysis in addressing problems such as overfishing,” Ms Westlund explained. “The FPAT can help fill that gap.”

About the CFI

The CFI is a collaborative global effort funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It brings together fishing communities, international conservation organizations, governments, United Nations agencies and the World Bank with the goal of achieving sustainable coastal fisheries and conserving marine biodiversity in six countries: Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru and Senegal.