About this Research Topic
Small-scale fisheries use simple fishing gears and vessels, often involving artisanal fishers collecting finfish and invertebrates. Catches are commonly multi-species in nature and their utilisation can be for subsistence consumption and for domestic or export sale.
A vast majority of fishers worldwide are employed or engaged in small-scale fisheries. Despite this importance to livelihoods, research on small-scale fisheries has only come to prominence in the past decade.
Management of small-scale fisheries has often proved difficult due to ‘commons’ access rights, high numbers of fishers, ill-adapted management regulations, weak governance and political will, and ineffective enforcement. Furthermore, the links between very small-scale operations and global seafood markets have not been well articulated and hence largely overlooked. As a result, we are witnessing a global pandemic of overfishing in small-scale fisheries and consequent moratoria, trophic cascades and livelihood losses.
New paradigms have been recently developed for improving governance, regulatory management, compliance and resilience of marine resources in small-scale fisheries. Nonetheless, further challenges remain for testing these new strategies, understanding the local and global market structures in which small-scale fisheries are embedded, and developing research tools for diagnosis and monitoring.
This Research Topic brings together leading research on new approaches for assessing and managing small-scale and artisanal fisheries from around the globe. We encourage submissions that offer new insights and approaches that can contribute to improved management and governance of small-scale and artisanal fisheries, rather than descriptive studies simply reporting on fishing activities and catches. The Research Topic covers novel research on small-scale fisheries assessment and monitoring, socioeconomics, governance, trade, and management measures.
A range of article types will be considered, including but not restricted to Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Perspective and Opinion articles.
A vast majority of fishers worldwide are employed or engaged in small-scale fisheries. Despite this importance to livelihoods, research on small-scale fisheries has only come to prominence in the past decade.
Management of small-scale fisheries has often proved difficult due to ‘commons’ access rights, high numbers of fishers, ill-adapted management regulations, weak governance and political will, and ineffective enforcement. Furthermore, the links between very small-scale operations and global seafood markets have not been well articulated and hence largely overlooked. As a result, we are witnessing a global pandemic of overfishing in small-scale fisheries and consequent moratoria, trophic cascades and livelihood losses.
New paradigms have been recently developed for improving governance, regulatory management, compliance and resilience of marine resources in small-scale fisheries. Nonetheless, further challenges remain for testing these new strategies, understanding the local and global market structures in which small-scale fisheries are embedded, and developing research tools for diagnosis and monitoring.
This Research Topic brings together leading research on new approaches for assessing and managing small-scale and artisanal fisheries from around the globe. We encourage submissions that offer new insights and approaches that can contribute to improved management and governance of small-scale and artisanal fisheries, rather than descriptive studies simply reporting on fishing activities and catches. The Research Topic covers novel research on small-scale fisheries assessment and monitoring, socioeconomics, governance, trade, and management measures.
A range of article types will be considered, including but not restricted to Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Perspective and Opinion articles.
Keywords: Small-scale fisheries, Fishery governance, Resource management, International trade, Research tools
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
