Share knowledge
- Run platforms where everyone involved can share information on small-scale fisheries
- Promote joint research
About the forum
A partnership of academics, researchers, state officers, community organisations and civil society, formed in February 2018 to give small-scale fishers a real voice in how their fisheries are governed.
- 2.7 million
- people depend on fisheries
- 570,000
- jobs linked to fishing, directly or indirectly
- 275,000
- active marine and inland fishers
- 10.8 kg
- of fish eaten per person a year
Figures from the forum’s founding paper, 2018.
Why the forum exists
Nearly everyone who fishes, processes or sells fish in Sri Lanka works in the small-scale sector. Yet the sector is threatened by overfishing, unregulated technology, the collapse of fisheries co-operatives and, increasingly, climate change.
Research in Sri Lanka has focused on fish biology and oceanography, not on the people who fish: their rights, their livelihoods and their exclusion from decisions. The forum was created to close that gap.
Small-scale fisheries make an important contribution to nutrition, food security, sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation. Despite this, the issues constraining their sustainable development remain poorly understood.
What we set out to do
The aims in the forum’s founding blueprint fall into three areas.
Shape policy
- Voice the needs of fishing communities
- Advise government and provide policy inputs
- Help develop and implement a national fisheries policy
Connect globally
- Bring the FAO SSF Guidelines into national law, policy and civil society work
- Link with regional and international bodies such as Too Big To Ignore and ICSF
How we work
A rights-based approach
Fishing communities, women and men alike, should take part in the decisions that affect them and share responsibility for the resource. We give particular weight to vulnerable and marginalised groups.
Interactive platforms
Fishers, officials, scientists, industry and civil society meet on neutral ground, usually a university, to work through a single issue and agree recommendations for policy makers.
Research and outreach
Members publish research, write for the national press and run projects directly with fishing communities.
The SSF Guidelines
The FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries recognise fishers’ rights and call for management that is participatory, inclusive and holistic. Guidelines only work when governments adopt them, so since 2018 the forum has briefed state officers and consulted fishing communities in the North, East, West and South.
Milestones
Forum founded
Open invitation to academics, researchers and interest groups.
State officers briefed
SSF Guidelines workshop in Colombo.
Regional consultations
Jaffna, Negombo, Rekawa and Trincomalee.
Fuel crisis platform
Fuel-efficient fishing with government and industry.
Fishing for Life
First regional conference on small-scale fisheries.
Savings for Future
Resilience for women fish processors.