Priority 4
Be transparent and accountable in fisheries management
Political will is needed to urgently reform fisheries policies and practices that will ensure healthy fishing communities and benefit national economies.
By 2030…
Governments should:
As smal-scale fisheries (SSF) are neglected in official statistics, and particularly women, improve gender sensitive data collection and dissemination of information of the sector, so that their contributions to food security, livelihoods, sustainable use of the ocean are more visible;
Due to a lack of information available, the inland fisheries sector is poorly recognised in national fisheries policies. There is a need to better document inland fisheries, its contributions and the challenges it faces, so that it can be recognised and supported at a national and international level;
Publish, to the minimum standards of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), all relevant information, including legislation, fishing authorisations, data on performance and the rationale for management regulations; and
Make public all information about other ocean, coastal sea and land based industrial projects, including texts of authorisations, permits and approvals, and information on foreign aid projects and new forms of financing for ocean conservation, including blue bonds and debt-for-nature-swaps.
We call on governments and their partners to build resilient small-scale fishing communities by developing national strategic plans to implement these actions by 2030.
These plans must be adequately funded and guided by the FAO Guidelines to Secure Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries and other relevant regional policies.
