2022, the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA), has been a pivotal year for small-scale fisheries, meeting the UN’s goal of raising awareness – in fisheries-related international fora – about the role they play in employment, food security, nutrition, livelihoods, culture, and coastal communities well-being.
However, decisions in other fora, that have an impact on their communities and livelihoods, such as ocean, climate change and biodiversity conferences, have largely ignored them.
Beyond recognition, there is an urgent need for concrete action in securing their access to marine resources and markets, as promised by States under Sustainable Development Goal 14.b. Overall, fishing communities continue facing the competition of industrial fishing fleets and other blue economy sectors, such as coastal tourism, oil and gas exploitation, struggling to access waters safely, seeing climate change impacting their activities, dying at sea in high numbers, facing challenges in financing and in equipment. Providing a future for small scale fisheries will require sustained efforts in the years to come.
2022 was, nevertheless, a milestone.
A year for speaking with one voice
In April 2022, the Ministers in charge of Fisheries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States gathered in Accra, Ghana, for their 7th ministerial conference. Artisanal fishers from Africa and the Pacific decided to come together to discuss their key asks for the year which led to the birth of a “Call to Action from artisanal fisheries” with 5 priorities. The collaboration was so fruitful in terms of impact, visibility, and coordination that they decided to continue it during the whole year.
The UN Ocean conference (UNOC) was a golden opportunity to build on this success, and African and Pacific fishers linked up with Mesoamerican, Indonesian and European colleagues who were also attending the conference. Despite the language challenges, what a journalist called a “little babel,” the presence of a small team of interpreters who accompanied the fishers everywhere allowed fishers to take part of the UNOC discussions, to be heard and seen.
In the Lisbon Oceanarium restaurant, almost bursting, they launched their Call to Action, with more than 100 participants in attendance. They repeated the experience at the 35th session of the committee on fisheries (COFI) held in September. The UN special envoy for the ocean, Mr. Peter Thomson, noted at a side event on small-scale fisheries that he believed it was the first time that the voice of small-fishers was heard so clearly.
What are these fishers asking for?
A year for securing access to marine resources
One way countries have sought to guarantee access to marine resources for small scale fishers has been by establishing a fishing zone reserved for artisanal fishers. This meets the small-scale fishers demand that their governments should secure their preferential access to coastal waters and implement co-management systems for 100% of coastal areas (land and sea). In July 2021, for example, Madagascar established a 2-nautical miles zone free of industrial trawlers which was a big step to protect small fishers from (mostly of Asian origin) shrimp trawlers fishing in coastal areas. However, there are challenges still for its implementation.
The African confederation of professional artisanal fishing organisations (CAOPA) has been documenting the issues that artisanal fishers face in those zones with a series of studies covering seven countries. One of the most common challenges is that fishing communities are neither informed about the rules governing these artisanal fishing zones nor involved in decision-making for establishing and managing artisanal fishing zones.
Taking part in decision-making goes beyond fisheries management. States have recently committed to protect 30% of marine areas by 2030 (target 3 of Montreal agreement). As the draft decision from CO15 on the biodiversity framework highlights, “achievement of sustainable development in all its three dimensions (environmental, social and economic) is necessary to create the conditions necessary to fulfil the goals and targets of the framework.”
Some of the signatories of the Call to Action present at COP15 in Montreal have insisted that 30x30 cannot work if it does not have a human-rights based approach. Prior to any new ocean use, including for purposes of conservation, what needs to be guaranteed are the free, prior and informed consent and title, tenure, access and resource rights of coastal communities, who depend on access to the ocean for their livelihoods. The 30x30 goal needs to be achieved in a way that is compatible with SDG14B and other commitments such as the Guidelines to secure sustainable small-scale fisheries.
A year for giving space to women in fisheries
In Africa and many developing countries, women in fisheries are the link between the fishers and the consumers, as they prepare, process and market the products. They are present at all the steps of the artisanal fisheries value chain, and they often also manage the household finances and ensure the education of children.
Women are also taking conservation measures, such as a commitment not to buy juveniles from the fishers; seeking alternatives for accessing raw materials, such as small-scale aquaculture coupled with off-ground market gardening; improving their working and living conditions for them and their families, and bringing innovation, such as social housing or improved ovens.
Adama Djaló, vice-president of CAOPA and fish processor in Guinea Bissau, reads an statement concerning women in fisheries on behalf of the signatories of the Call to Action from small-scale fisheries at the plenary on fisheries at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. Photo by CFFA.
In short, they are the backbone of African fishing communities. Yet too often they are side-lined instead of being included as a full-fledged stakeholder for fisheries management. Small-scale fisheries actors underscored in their Call to Action the necessity of acknowledging and supporting women in their role and including them in decision-making processes.
A year for raising awareness about the threats to artisanal fisheries
One of the most advertised milestones of 2022 has been the agreement on fisheries subsidies at WTO. However, for this agreement to address one of the biggest threats to African small-scale fisheries, negotiations on new disciplines need to tackle subsidies that cause overcapacity and overfishing, in particular subsidies to foreign industrial vessels.
Beyond industrial vessels competition, fishers are likewise concerned by the fact that other sectors also compete for space and resources in coastal areas, including tourism, oil and gas offshore exploitation, fishmeal factories, logging, deep-sea mining. Small-scale fishers coined this “blue fear” at the UN ocean conference. And rightly so. Diverging interests behind the blue economy fad are endangering the most vulnerable stakeholders. In this context, marine spatial planning seems more like a division of the spoils, as spaces that have been traditionally used by fishers are now likely to be divided among the other more powerful sectors and without the participation of fishers.
A year for more transparency
2022 has seen progress in the matter of transparency. Two more African countries have sent a letter of commitment to the Fisheries Transparency Initiative: Sao Tome and Principe and Guinea, and pledged to put in place both the legal framework and structures that are necessary to ensure a successful and sustainable implementation of the FiTI standard.
For African small-scale fisheries, however, transparency is not a voluntary act, but “it is a citizen’s right, especially for those whose livelihoods depend on fisheries.” They demand in the Call to Action from their governments to be transparent and accountable and publish to the minimum standards, “all relevant information, including legislation, authorisations, data on performance and the rationale for management regulations,” not only on fisheries management but also on “any decision concerning the ocean.” And for this latest point, unfortunately, there is still a long way to go…
A year for listening to the youth
Nobody in the fisheries sector has more at stake than youth. The picture for youth in fisheries is rather bleak when looking at the already observable impacts of climate change: sea level rising, coastal erosion, change in the distribution of fish stocks, ocean warming and acidification with its consequences on coral reefs, mangroves, and other fish breeding grounds… And the list is growing.
The lack of livelihoods prospects in fisheries, and difficult working conditions, makes this sector unattractive for youth, and therefore an aging one. On top of this, youth in fisheries struggle to be heard in their own communities, due to various prejudices, but also to be heard by their decision-makers. They are however speaking for themselves: There are ways to offer long-term decent livelihoods for youth. For example, governments should see the opportunities in the processing sector, and develop youth-specific policies to make this sector attractive to youth again.
And a roadmap for the next years…
Since the launch of their Call to Action in June 2022, several other national small-scale fisheries organisations and networks have joined it, including the Canadian Independent Fish Harverster’s Federation and the Iberoamerican Artisanal Fisheries Network. At UNOC, the Minister of Fisheries from Ghana, Hon. Hawa Komsoon, the Costa Rican Environment Minister, HE Franz Tattenbach, and the Secretary General of the OACPS, HE Georges Chikoti committed to support the call.
At the FAO committee on fisheries, in September 2022, the Call to Action was also acknowledged by the EU representatives and by the UN Special Envoy for the Ocean, Mr. Peter Thomson. The Call was also presented at the Conference on Biodiversity in December 2022. In Africa, at the occasion of World Fisheries Day (21 November 2022), CAOPA and CANCO handed over a copy of the Call to Hon. Salim Mvurya, Minister for Mining, Blue Economy, and Maritime Affairs of Kenya.
Small-scale fishers have now a roadmap so that by 2030, their demands become true. “This call to action is not a desperate call,” said Gaoussou Gueye, president of CAOPA, on World Fisheries Day, “it is a cry of hope. And for this cry to become louder,” they encourage all stakeholders to join it.
We also encourage you to join it for a hopeful 2023!
Banner and greeting card photo: Some of the men and women in artisanal fisheries signatories of the Call to Action outside of the Oceanarium in Lisbon, in June 2022, by Joëlle Philippe
To mark the end of the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022), small-scale fisheries organisations from 5 continents followed up on their Call to Action (June 2022) and presented these guidelines to their partners and supporters.