Managing small-scale fisheries under data poor scenarios: lessons from around the world

Abstract

Small-scale fisheries contribute to around half of the global catch, still small-scale fisheries tend to be often ignored. Lately, the visibility of small-scale fisheries is increasing, and there are calls to collect bioecological, economic, social, and cultural data in order to improve our understanding of the activity and contribute to the sustainable management of the sector. However, information on small-scale fisheries and their catch is not easily available and collecting reliable small-scale fisheries data is notoriously difficult. This Special Issue comprises twelve papers on managing small-scale fisheries under data poor scenarios, including methodologies and tools for collecting and analyzing social and ecological data, and issues concerning the governance and management of small-scale fisheries. The contributions to this Special Issue illustrate that management of small-scale fisheries under data poor scenarios is challenging but capable to be addressed by a diversity of innovative approaches for data collections and participatory methods.