Publications
Bottom-up, Global Estimates of Small-scale Marine Fisheries Catches, by Ratana Chuenpagdee, Lisa Liguori, Maria L.D. Palomares and Daniel Pauly. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 14(8). The Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2006.
(http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/publications/reports/fcrr.php)
This recently released report attempts to estimate, for the first time, the catches and related contribution of small-scale fisheries (SSF). It recognizes that the social, cultural, economic and livelihood importance of SSF to the majority of fishers are rarely reflected in national fisheries development policies, which tend to emphasize large-scale, industrial fisheries. The report aims to provide bottom-up (national) estimates of SSF catches and related statistics for each maritime country, and then aggregate them at the global level. It provides, besides catch data, national definition of small-scale fisheries (SSF), gears used, catch composition, number of fishers, number of boats and involvement of women and children, drawing on various sources of data and information. Significantly, in recognition of the important roles that women and children play in SSF, the report includes a discussion about gender issues. The effort, according to the authors, is to put SSF at the center stage of fisheries research. The data in the report is to be made online from January 2007 through the website of the Sea Around Us Project (www.seaaroundus.org). The database contains information about SSF in 140 coastal countries. The authors estimate that in 2000, nearly 12 million small-scale fishers caught 21 million tonnes per year. Pointing to the important contribution of SSF to total marine catches, they recommend adoption of policies directed at sustaining SSF.
