Environmental Stewardship by Small-Scale Fisheries, a new publication from the Food and Agriculture Organizarion of the United Nations (FAO), explores the many ways in which small-scale fisheries – fishers and fishworkers as well as their communities and organizations – effectively conserve fishery resources and aquatic environments. Indeed, small-scale fisheries are at the heart of environmental conservation and stewardship, which is expressed as both a perspective and a practice, a way of engaging with the natural world and the local environment. This stewardship is motivated by values, relationships, culture and spiritual aspects, along with the pursuit of sustainable livelihoods and community well-being. The many forms of stewardship include managing fisheries for sustainable use, protecting and restoring local ecosystems, engaging in advocacy and education, and working with others in stewardship partnerships. These are illustrated in the publication through real-world examples, contributed by many small-scale fishing communities and organizations, around the world. These examples lead to insights on lessons learned, good practices and ingredients of success in stewardship, the crucial supporting and enabling activities underlying stewardship, and how policymakers and others can support stewardship.
Small-scale fisheries (SSF), including fishers and fishworkers together with their communities and organizations, are among the world’s most effective contributors to safeguarding aquatic resources and environments. Living near to, and relying on, freshwater and marine aquatic species and environments, small-scale fisheries are at the heart of environmental conservation and stewardship – of caring for and sustainably using aquatic environments, managing fisheries for sustainable use, protecting and restoring local ecosystems, and working with others towards these goals.
The key role played by SSF organizations and fishing communities is well recognized in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and in the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) which note that “States should recognize the role of small-scale fishing communities and Indigenous Peoples to restore, conserve, protect and co-manage local aquatic and coastal ecosystems.” Thanks to the active participation of many small-scale fishing communities and organizations, this publication draws on real-world examples of small-scale fisheries stewardship to highlight the various forms of stewardship, to outline ingredients of success in that stewardship, and to describe how policymakers and others can support those stewardship activities around the world.
The publication “Charles, A., Macnaughton, A. and Hicks, S. 2024. Environmental stewardship by small-scale fisheries. FAO, Rome” is available at https://doi.org/10.4060/cc9342en