Early 2023, artisanal fisheries organisations from 5 continents – the signatories of the Call to Action from small-scale fisheries -, presented a document called “Rules of conduct for working with small-scale fishers and fishworkers to save our ocean.”
These guidelines are aimed at partners who seek to work with artisanal fishers in the context of conservation and are divided in 4 main topics: (1) SSF rights in the context of ocean conservation, (2) SSF participation and representation in decision-making, (3) SSF voice and messaging and, finally, (4) principles for financial and other types of support.
Since 2022, the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA) has supported the "Call to Action", which has since been a thread running through CFFA’s advocacy strategy. After its General Assembly, last June 2023, CFFA’s board marked its support to these Rules and mandated CFFA’s staff to abide by it in its work with artisanal fisheries organisations.
In this regard, CFFA sent a letter to its main partner, the African Confederation of Artisanal Fisheries Organisations (CAOPA) to express its support and acceptance of these Rules: “We hereby undertake to comply with these rules in our work and collaboration with CAOPA and more widely with small-scale fishing, within a framework of partnership to protect the oceans and the coastal communities that depend on healthy oceans for their survival.”
By this action, CFFA encourages also “other partners and stakeholders wishing to support small-scale fishing to commit to these standards.”
Photos: Banner photo of a fisher in Fiji by Shiri Ram/WCS. Box 1 of fishers on the beach in Ghana by Samuel Aboh. Box 2 of a fish processor in Indonesia courtesy of KNTI.
The author makes 4 recommendations to make the external dimension of the CFP more effective: (1) the EU should shift from access agreements to fisheries governance agreements, while (2) continuing to support informed participation of stakeholders in third countries; (3) it should also ensure that all vessels of EU origin, including those reflagged, abide by sustainability standards; and (4) it should actively engage, at international level, to promote transparent, fair, and sustainable access arrangements applicable to all fleets of foreign origin fishing in developing countries.