Photo credit: WorldFish

Illuminating Hidden Harvests

The contribution of small-scale fisheries to sustainable development

From roadside drainage channels in Southeast Asia, policy. This is becoming increasingly problematic as
to mega-deltas of the world’s large river systems and pressure from outside the sector (e.g. globalized trade,
the nearshore waters of oceans and seas, small-scale competition for space and resources, climate change)
fisheries provide livelihoods for millions, essential and from within (e.g. rising fishing effort, limited
nutrition to billions and contribute substantially investment in management) increases and the costs of
to household, local and national economies and marginalization are ever more apparent.
economic growth. In the oceans, more people
work in small-scale fisheries than in all other sectors The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable
combined.1,2 Inland rivers, lakes and floodplains Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food
support even more men and women fishers, Security and Poverty Eradication3 (hereafter ‘SSF
processors and sellers than do marine systems,1 often Guidelines’) represent a global, highly participatory
as one component of a complex and seasonally multistakeholder effort to redress this issue. The SSF
variable livelihood. Furthermore, small-scale fisheries Guidelines have the ambitious goal of supporting
are often culturally important to the identity of those the development of small-scale fisheries and fishing
involved, and can be central to trade, social structures communities through a human rights-based approach
and interactions within and among communities. to fisheries that is socially and environmentally
sustainable. Achieving this goal will require substantial
Yet due to the highly diverse and dispersed nature of support from governments, private enterprise,
small-scale fisheries, quantifying and understanding international donors and NGOs. A key element in
their multiple contributions is difficult, and a unified building the case for this support is better illuminating
and effective voice for advocacy can seem unattainable. the diverse contributions of these fisheries, and
As a result, despite impressive headline statistics, providing new evidence in a way that can be used by
small-scale fisheries are too frequently marginalized communities and advocates to make a strong case for
in political processes and not given due attention in investment in the sector.

1
World Bank, FAO, WorldFish. 2012. Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture Fisheries. World Bank, New York.
2
OECD. 2016. The Ocean Economy in 2030. OECD Publishing, Paris.
3
Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication. 2015. FAO,
Rome., http://www.fao.org/3/i4356en/I4356EN.pdf
 Photo credit: Anna Fawcus/WorldFish
Women selling smoked fish and shrimp at Sekondi market, Ghana.

What are the hidden harvests of about 70 percent. Small-scale fisheries in developing
countries produce almost as much fish for direct
small-scale fisheries? domestic consumption as large-scale fisheries, and
In 2012, FAO, the World Bank and WorldFish published
most of this is consumed locally in rural settings
Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture
where poverty rates are high and quality nutrition is
Fisheries. This was a first attempt to synthesize
sorely needed. Importantly, the study highlighted that
information on the diverse and misreported livelihood
almost 50 percent of workers in the sector are women.
and economic contributions of capture fisheries
globally. The project produced detailed case studies
from countries with important inland and marine Shedding new light on hidden harvests
small-scale fisheries, and used these to estimate To support the growing momentum in implementing
global contributions. This synthesis produced some the SSF Guidelines, and in response to the Sustainable
valuable new estimates of relative importance of Development Goals, FAO, WorldFish and Duke
large-scale and small-scale fisheries. At the headline University are working in partnership with experts
level, millions of metric tons of fish from the sector are globally to revisit and build on this initial Hidden
hidden (unreported), with the synthesis suggesting Harvest study. Encompassing the pre-harvesting,
underreporting rates from inland fisheries globally of harvesting and post-harvesting sectors of inland and

Organizational framework

SSF level of analysis Pre-harvesting Harvesting Post-harvesting

Dimensions of Environmental Environmental Environmental

contributions
Economic Social Economic Social Economic Social

Governance Governance Governance

SDGs
marine fisheries, the new study asks the questions: on important themes that may include among others
• What are the social, environmental, economic and climate change impacts, contributions to conservation
governance contributions of small-scale fisheries at and governance, where global synthesis is perhaps
global and local scales? not yet possible. The team will engage diverse
• What are the key drivers of change in these sectors, expertise across the research sector to improve the
including both threats and opportunities? depth of analysis, and the validity and precision of
new estimates, as well as customizing reporting and
As with the first Hidden Harvest study, we will use a information presentation for diverse end-user groups.
case study approach to engage with local expertise
in priority countries that have substantial small-scale
fisheries sectors or notable nutritional dependence on Key audiences and engagement
National governments and fisheries institutions
small-scale fisheries. The study will also take advantage
With primary responsibility for policy and often a
of improved availability of relevant national and global
central actor in management, government institutions
datasets on fisheries, demographics, employment,
are an important client and collaborator in the project.
fish consumption and nutrition in the synthesis
For case study countries, the project can offer expert
and extrapolation process. Besides updating many
synthesis of existing survey and research data that
indicators from the first study, the new study seeks
can provide new policy-relevant understandings of
in particular to provide new synthesis on social and
the diverse contributions of the national inland and
nutritional benefits, and social differentiation in the
flow of benefits from different fishery sectors. A series marine small-scale fisheries sectors.
of thematic studies will highlight available information

Photo credit: Balaram Mahalder/WorldFish

Landless fishers in Bangladesh live and work on their boats.

The project seeks assistance from fisheries core team will work with aligned experts on thematic
administrations in completing an FAO ad-hoc survey studies that integrate with the purposes of the project.
on small-scale fisheries that will feed into both national
case studies and global synthesis. This survey will Project outputs and reporting
ask specific questions about the small-scale fisheries The project will produce a major synthesis report in
sector and availability of data. It also complements the 2020. Thematic studies and possibly some country
survey conducted in support of the Code of Conduct case studies will be published as separate reports and
for Responsible Fisheries. scientific journal articles where appropriate. A major
communications effort will accompany the project,
Civil society organizations, non-governmental involving close engagement with key stakeholders to
organizations, communities and fishers understand communication needs to support small-
Fishing communities, CSOs and NGOs (national and scale fishery communities and the drive to implement
international) are important voices in advocating a the SSF Guidelines.
productive, equitable and sustainable future for small-
scale fisheries and the implementation of the SSF The project provides a ‘snapshot’ of the current
Guidelines. The project will work directly with these contributions from small-scale fisheries but
groups to understand information needs, and the best importantly also looks at drivers of change. Associated
approaches to presenting outcomes of the study in a with the project, but extending beyond the 2020
useable way. reporting date, will be an initiative that integrates
methods and outcomes from country case studies,
The project seeks assistance from these groups in thematic studies and global synthesis into a
case study countries with locating the best available framework for monitoring change trajectories and
information and data on all aspects of small-scale impacts of investments and management innovation
fisheries, with a particular focus on livelihoods, social in the small-scale fisheries sector.
and governance aspects.

Science and development communities

As both advocates and research partners in the sector,
local contextual and high-level synthesized data and
information on the contributions of small-scale fisheries
are important in setting the priorities, direction and
design of research. The project will work with local and
international scientists and practitioners in case study
countries to help identify existing data and studies
most relevant to the small-scale fisheries sector. The

For further information, please contact:

Project Coordinator FAO: Giulia Gorelli ([email protected])
Duke University: Maria del Mar Mancha-Cisneros ([email protected])
WorldFish: David Mills ([email protected])

This publication should be cited as: WorldFish, FAO and Duke University. 2018. Illuminating hidden harvests. Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish;
Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Durham, USA: Duke University. Program Brief.

© 2018. WorldFish. All rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced without the permission of, but with acknowledgment to, WorldFish.

https://www.worldfishcenter.org/hidden-harvests