SSF Rights

Population expansion, aquaculture, the growing tourism sector, marine protected areas, the emergence of other marine industries such as offshore oil and gas extraction and transportation, and increasing demands on fish and other seafood products have contributed to intensifying competition within coastal zones, and marine and inland waters. Effects of such competition are mostly felt by small-scale fishers who depend heavily on access to shorelines, which are their homes for activities such as shellfish gathering, gleaning, and near-shore or beach seine fisheries, landing and anchoring boats. The voice of these fishers is often drowned out and their rights are frequently violated by economically and politically powerful individuals..

The ‘SSF Right’ cluster is closely related to the TBTI ‘Defending the Beach’ working group. This working group explored the challenges SSF face in response to new movements toward privatization and enclosure, starting with North America and then expanding into other regions. The working group examined the development and implementation of neoliberal policy (ideology, law, practice) and how it has been applied to fisheries policy. It also looked at how people who continue to depend on SSF are responding to, and sometimes resisting, these changes. In November 2015 a Special Section of Marine Policy, edited by Evelyn Pinkerton & Reade Davis was published. The Special Section provided a review of the ways in which policies of enclosure, privatization, and regulations have occurred in North America and examined the consequences they have had for SSF in practice. A second Special Issue in Marine Policy on the same topic but global in scope is currently being developed. The issue, edited by Evelyn Pinkerton, will include papers about New Zealand, Iceland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Malawi, Australia, Malaysia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, British Columbia, Washington State, New England, and Alaska. Some papers will focus on the resistance of small-scale fishing communities in constructing alternatives to neoliberalism; some will be about the damage being done: ocean grabbing, the impact on human rights and socio-political processes in coastal communities or general public policy formation.

The ‘SSF Rights’ research cluster will broaden the discussion from privatization and enclosure to address the issues related to various types of rights for small-scale fishing people. In accord with the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines), the SSF Rights cluster will emphasize the need for small-scale fishing communities to secure tenure rights to the resources, which form the basis for their social and cultural well-being, their livelihoods and their sustainable development. The SSF Rights cluster will also conduct research to support the realization of the right of small-scale fishing people to adequate food and nutrition. Finally, the SSF Rights cluster will contribute towards the implementation of human rights-based approach to sustainable SSF, as promoted in the SSF Guidelines.

For more information on participation in this cluster please scroll down to “How to contribute” section.