FAO Committee on Fisheries - West African artisanal fishing sector: a proactive force for sustainable fisheries

Small-scale fisheries were the focus of attention of Governments participating in the twenty eighth session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, COFI, who discussed how to follow up on results of the World Conference on Small Scale Fisheries (4SSF), held in Bangkok, Thailand, October 2008.

A statement was issued by small scale fishing organizations, present at the event as observers, highlighting the importance of their sector, and calling for a Special Chapter to be included in FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries on small scale fisheries. They also advised that COFI should consider setting up a Sub Committee devoted to Small Scale fisheries, and/or develop Technical Guidelines or International Plan of Action (IPOA) on small-scale fishing, which should be elaborated by FAO and its members through an inclusive process involving small-scale fishers and civil society.

Mamayawa Sandouno, from Guinea, a member of the ICSF recalled that these demands were made by civil society during the FAO 4SSF Conference. ‘Civil society organizations insisted there that development efforts in the fisheries sector, including in our West African countries, should be geared towards guaranteeing the freedom, the well-being and the dignity of all men and women working in the artisanal fisheries sector’, she said.

West African artisanal fishing sector: a proactive force for sustainable fisheries

West African Media and Artisanal Fishing Professionals: Raising awareness about sustainable fisheries issues

In the recent years, West African artisanal fishing organizations, CONIPAS (Senegal), FNP – section artisanale (Mauritania) and UNPAG (Guinea) recognised that, in their communities, there is insufficient access to information relating to responsible fisheries. In the same way, scientists, decision makers and public opinion, do not take sufficient account of the views of artisanal fishing professionals, whether on social, economic, cultural issues, or on our relation with the natural environment.

Facilitating access to information is crucial for the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries by members of professional organizations, their families and the overall coastal community. It is also important to valorise, through improving information flows, traditional knowledge, and innovations proposed by artisanal professional in a perspective of responsible fishing.

Medias, radio in particular, - as it is widely listened to by fishing professional, even those who are not able to read-, but also newspapers and television, can play a bigger role to improve community access to information. But information must be presented in an appropriate format, so as to be of interest and accessible for all people from the community.

That’s the reason why these artisanal professional organizations decided to organize a regional meeting between media and fishing professionals, to explore how responsible fisheries issues can be better publicized in coastal communities, and how communities’ point of views and experiences for promoting sustainable fisheries can be better known and recognised, with media help. Given such support, coastal communities may get a better say in the decision making process.

The organisers are convinced that information appropriately tailored to the needs of coastal communities, and their participation in the creation of information is a necessary ingredient for the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. This is because fishing professionals are not only resource users but are also amongst the managers of these resources.

West African Media and Artisanal Fishing Professionals

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