Sustainable Fisheries

Special collection

Worldwide, small-scale coastal fisheries contribute significantly to providing food, employment, and incomes to many very poor people. But these same fisheries, and the ecosystems upon which they rely, are under increasing threat from a combination of climate change, pollution, over-fishing, and the exploitation of resources.


Fisheries management has been a major component in trying to address some of these issues, but with limited global success. The potential of fisheries, if managed well, is considerable but what form that potential will take will depend on how and why fisheries are managed.


This collection of reports and presentations explores just this question, describing some of the challenges faced by small-scale fisheries worldwide and their efforts to address these challenges and improve the health and well-being of the people who are dependent on these threatened environments.


The collection brings together the "grey literature" of the field, valuable work that is not readily available through academic journals and databases but is instead spread across dozens of organizational websites. This set of reports was initially identified as part of a synthesis review of key lessons commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation's Program on Oceans and Fisheries. We are pleased to make it more easily available for others to use and build on and encourage researchers and practitioners to add relevant work to the collection.

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Adapting Tropical Pacific Fisheries and Aquaculture to Climate Change: Management Measures, Policies and Investments

February 2, 2012

This chapter sets out the information needed by stakeholders in the fisheries and aquaculture sector at all levels to reduce the threats and capitalise on the opportunities created by climate change The authors emphasise that adaptations and policies to build the resilience of the Pacific communities to climate change. should not be viewed just from a scientific or technical perspective - the needs and aspirations of people must also be integrated. Understanding how people are affected, and how their traditional knowledge, capacities and perspectives can help develop and implement adaptations is a vital part of the process. Community consultation and participation are essential to ensure that adaptations incorporate a human rights and human development approach to achieve gender equality, maintain relevant traditional customs and culture, and empower young people.

Environmental Conservation and Restoration; Knowledge Systems; Rights and Legal Frameworks

Raising the Sunken Billions: A New Model to Finance Fisheries Reform

January 1, 2012

The Fisheries Policy Brief supports the following key messsages.Improving the governance and management of fisheries exploitation is the principal means of securing the contribution wild capture fisheries to food security.The fisheries policies of tomorrow need to include not only data on environmental issues and fisheries resources, but also be complemented with research data on the patterns and dynamics of fish trade, value chains and end user consumption.To distribute the benefits of fishing more equitably, the responsibility for management and decision making should be devolved to the level where the incentives for fisheries to meet the widest community objectives are highest.For fisheries reform and policy implementation to be successful, primacy should be given to honest inclusive stakeholder dialogue.As fisheries do not exist in isolation, multi-sectoral perspectives and approaches need to be developed and supported.

A Study of DFID's Support for Post-Cyclone Livelihoods Rehabilitation In Orissa, India

March 1, 2001

The recent UK Government Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures recognises the intensifying pressure on the world's food system that we can expect in the next 40 years. Meeting the challenges these pressures present will require concerted effort by many research communities, among them those that focus on fisheries. In recent years there has been a growth in research pointing to the importance and potential of fisheries in a development and food security context. As a major source of animal protein, especially for poor consumers in developing countries, securing and making the most of the world's fisheries remains an important priority (Béné et al., 2007; World Bank/FAO/WorldFish, 2010). In parallel, after a period of disillusionment following the failures of investments in fisheries projects in the 1970s and 80s (Cunninghamet al., 2009; NFDS, 2009), interest in supporting this sector through foreign aid is returning. Not surprisingly, this resurgence of interest aligns with the renewed focus on agriculture and food security, following relative neglect in the 1990s (World Bank, 2008). With increasing interest in investing development aid in fisheries, it is legitimate to ask what recent research has to offer by way of guidance. In this short paper we summarise the potential significance of several emerging areas of fisheries research and management for helping secure and enhance fish supplies from wild harvesting in support of food security in the developing world. Our focus is on small-scale fisheries, for reasons summarised below, these fisheries present a critical frontier in the challenge to increase the contribution of fish to poverty reduction and sustainable development.We have selected four areas –loosely titled 'Small-scale fisheries' (highlighting gender and inland fisheries), 'Governance reform', 'Resilience in practice' and 'External drivers'. Although more conventional fisheries topics such as effort reduction, fish stock sustainability and gear technology remain important, we feel these other broad areas of inquiry offer particular promise for supporting development efforts. Our intention is to provide readers with a short accessible introduction to these topics and to provide entry points to some of the recent literature.