A rare global dataset: Illuminating Hidden Harvests report to highlight small-scale fisheries’ contributions to sustainable development

From Africa’s great lakes to the mega-deltas of large river systems; from mountain streams to mangrove-fringed lagoons; and from rocky coasts to the open ocean, small-scale fisheries (SSF) provide livelihoods for millions, essential nutrition for billions, and bolster household, local and national economies around the world. Yet due to the diverse and dispersed nature of SSF, a unified and effective voice for advocacy remains elusive. The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) represents a global, highly participatory, and multi-stakeholder effort to redress this issue. This document supports fishing communities through a human rights-based approach uniting governments, private enterprise, NGOs, and civil society in the name of environmental and social sustainability. Nonetheless, quantifying and understanding SSF’s multiple contributions has been a persistent barrier to advocating for supportive policy.

Now, amidst growing momentum for implementing the SSF Guidelines and to support progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, FAO is co-leading efforts to build an evidence base allowing SSF communities and advocates to encourage investment in the sector. FAO, WorldFish, and Duke University are working with SSF experts around the world to produce the Illuminating Hidden Harvests Report (IHH), a new study evaluating the social, environmental, economic, and governance contributions of marine and inland SSF at global, regional, and local scales. Based on interdisciplinary data collection in over 50 countries, the report will pair environmental and economic data with social indicators to examine the links between SSF, food and nutrition security, gender equality, and sustainable livelihoods across the value chain. The report will be useful for national governments and fisheries institutions seeking to support sustainable livelihoods, researchers shedding light on SSF at multiple geographic scales, and civil society organizations and NGOs advocating for sustainable policy.

The IHH global report will include a thematic chapter on the diverse contributions of Indigenous small-scale fisheries.

Not all that counts can be counted, and all too often Indigenous fishing communities and their interests are overlooked because standardized data collection remains blind to their unique contributions to sustainability. For this reason, the IHH report will include a chapter focused on the characteristics of Indigenous SSF, the features that contribute to Indigenous fisheries sustainability, the drivers of change that impact Indigenous fisheries, and the ways that data collection and analysis can better account for Indigenous peoples and their priorities. Drawing on case studies ranging from the North American Makah to the Amazonian Baniwa and the Bakwele of Central Africa to the Sama-Bajau of Southeast Asia, and extending far beyond quantitative data, the chapter will examine the cultural values, social systems, spiritual beliefs, and fishing practices that sustain Indigenous fisheries. It will also provide recommendations for participatory data collection that better documents these characteristics while forging a path to inclusive, human rights-based fisheries management. 

The Illuminating Hidden Harvests Report will be available in early 2021. See the IHH Program Brief here, more about the SSF Guidelines here, and details about FAO’s work in support of Indigenous small-scale fishers here.