A Global Toolkit for Participatory Fisheries Governance
Produced by the Environmental Justice Foundation with funding from the European Union.
This toolkit has been produced by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) with funding from the European Union (EU). It provides technical guidance for practitioners working alongside small-scale fishing communities and seeking to empower them in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and more broadly working to secure sustainable, legal and ethical fisheries.
The toolkit consists of three pillars: community surveillance to detect and deter IUU fishing; the development of fisheries co-management associations (CMAs) to promote the sustainable and responsible management of fisheries and the strengthening of National Fishers Associations (NFAs) to assist them in leveraging improvements to national fisheries policy.
Each section is designed to be useful in isolation, as well as a part of the wider toolkit. While all three are different strands of participatory governance, there are clear linkages between them in which one strand can bolster the others. For example, community surveillance programmes can provide useful data about the extent and nature of IUU fishing, which can inform the advocacy of NFAs, or shape the approach to IUU fishing taken by CMAs. Likewise, active and responsive CMAs can serve as reliable interlocutors for NFAs to disseminate information and best practices.
All of the above sections also include a range of resources that can be used during training and engagement with fishers and fishers groups. The global toolkit is designed to be a ‘living’ resource that will grow and evolve as additional resources become available, and as new or innovative best practices emerge. Its aim is to accurately reflect the experiences and contexts of small-scale fishers and their representatives globally, and as such we invite individuals or organisations – regardless of size or location – to submit information or resources they feel will contribute to its broader aims of giving voice to small-scale fishers, improving coastal livelihoods, protecting marine biodiversity and improving fisheries governance across scale.
Over the next two years EJF will roll out the Toolkit in 15 coastal nations in the Global South. We will share case studies and learning on these pages, and welcome enquiries from local organisations and others seeking to become involved in this programme to protect the marine environment for biodiversity and coastal livelihoods.
If you would like to submit any such questions, information or resources, please email globaltoolkit@ejfoundation.org.
This project is funded by the European Union (NDICI CHALLENGE/2002?437-419). The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of EJF and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
