Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 59

Paragraph

Paragraph text: Past co-management projects have a mixed record. Some have been notable successes, in both developed and developing countries, while others have led to less positive outcomes. Failures in co-management are partly explained by the fact that communities have been involved only in the implementation of policy, rather than in setting objectives of policy and ensuring that policymaking and evaluation are based on local knowledge of fish and marine ecosystems. The failure to integrate fishing communities into the design of policies affecting them, the top-down creation of community-based organizations to carry out functions for the State and approaches that are excessively donor-driven or that are captured by elites have all disappointed expectations. The solution to these difficulties is not to abandon co management, but to build it in a more participatory way, based on the needs of the fishing communities. This in turn will be successful only if the livelihoods of fishers are also better secured, taking into account that the environment in which they operate, and the markets on which they depend, are increasingly risky. Only by linking fisheries management to the broader improvement of the economic and social rights of fishers, in a multisectoral approach that acknowledges how fishing fits into the broader social and economic fabric, can progress be made towards robust and sustainable solutions.

Topic(s)

Person(s) affected