The 31st session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI 31) adopted the voluntary guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries in the context of food security and poverty eradication (VGSSF). The guidelines address five thematic areas: governance of tenure in small-scale fisheries and resource management; social development, employment and decent work; value chains, post harvest and trade; gender equality; disaster risks and climate change. Key areas for supporting the implementation of the guidelines are also explored, including: policy coherence, institutional coordination and collaboration; information, research and communication; capacity development.
The FAO dedicated the guidelines to Chandrika Sharma, Executive Secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), who disappeared on the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 on 8 March 2014, and who fought, in the last six years, for the negotiation and adoption of the guidelines.
The FAO Sub-Committee on Fish Trade, in its report, also supported the work of FAO towards small-scale fisheries, underlining the necessity to enable small-scale operators to access and share information, to organise and to participate meaningfully in decision-making processes and value-chain dynamics for a more equitable distribution of benefits from national, regional and international trade.
Furthermore, the Sub-Committee acknowledged the significance of user and access rights for small-scale fishers and welcomed the planned conference on tenure and user rights in fisheries, which will take place in Cambodia in February 2015.
Sources
FAO, ‘Countries recognize vital role of small-scale fishers’, 10 June 2014
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/234115/icode/
FAO, International guidelines for securing sustainable small scale fisheries, 9–13 June 2014
http://www.fao.org/cofi/23885-09a60857a289b96d28c31433643996c84.pdf
FAO Sub-committee on fish trade report
http://www.fao.org/cofi/24007-0ab07f88ef0c6d2a8b6c1b6b4d4e83aee.pdf
ICSF webpage on small scale fisheries guidelines