Unpacking legal and policy frameworks: A step ahead for implementing the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines

Abstract

The endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) in 2014 created a new ‘space’ in the international fora, where the protection of rights of small-scale fisheries (SSF) people is promoted, and where indifference, unfairness and injustice within and against SSF are placed under the world’s purview. Implementing the SSF Guidelines, however, requires unremitting work by researchers from across disciplines, in collaboration with government authorities, civil society organizations and fishers. It is argued here that the involvement of all relevant expertise, with a focus on legal practitioners and policy-makers, in an engaged and collaborative process, can effectively put the implementation of the SSF Guidelines another step ahead. This paper presents a rapid appraisal approach as a ’step zero’ towards the required transdisciplinary work, to evaluate the extent to which existing national laws and policies align with principles and objectives of the SSF Guidelines. The appraisal was conducted in 25 countries, as illustrations of how certain issues outlined in the SSF Guidelines are considered by national laws and policies in different contexts. The results are compared and discussed in terms of governance implications.