Home » Small-Scale Fisheriesyou are here

Small-Scale Fisheries

Business models for small-scale aquaculture to help the poor

KEY FACTS
GiZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)
Leibniz University Hannover, Institute of Development and Agriculture Economics, Germany
Innpact Sàrl, Germany
Fisheries Administration (FiA)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MoAFF), Cambodia
Aceh Society Development (ASD) Cooperative, Indonesia
 
Global, but with case study research in Cambodia and Indonesia
In developing countries like Cambodia, riverine and coastal waters are the lifeblood of many communities, and have been for millennia. Small-scale fisheries operations feed the local populace, employ local workers, and are a way of life for millions. With demand for fish products’ soaring worldwide, aquaculture in developing nations is seen as a tantalizing opportunity to tap into a growing global market. But cashing in on this global boom is easier said than done for the predominantly poor fishers working in low-tech aquaculture operations. The Pro-poor Business Models for Small-scale Aquaculture (BMSA) project aims to alleviate poverty by identifying innovative business models and finance options that will help small-scale aquaculture enterprises take their produce from catch to market.

Governing Small Scale Fisheries for Poverty Reduction - A CGIAR-Canada Linkage Fund project

KEY FACTS
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
University of Manitoba, Canada
Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Saint Mary’s University of Canada
Wilfred Laurier University of Canada
Vancouver Island University of Canada
Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans
 
Global
This project is fundamentally concerned with maintaining the flow of environmental goods and services to benefit human wellbeing, with improved human wellbeing proposed as a desirable outcome of ‘development’. The novelty of the approach is to address the challenges of environmental sustainability and resilience from a gender-sensitive wellbeing perspective, rather than from the more usual “resource-rent maximisation” perspective of fisheries economic policy.

Increasing Food Security in the Philippines through Aquaculture

KEY FACTS
Department of Science and Technology Regional Offices and Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI)
Department of Science and Technology Regional Offices in Regions 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13
BFAR Regional Offices
National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center
Bicol University Tabaco Campus
Capiz State University
UP Visayas
Southern Leyte State University
Mindanao State University Naawan Campus
Southern Philippines Marine and Aquaculture School of Technology
 
Philippines
Production from small-scale and commercial fishing has declined significantly in the Philippines in recent years due to diminishing productivity, depletion of fish stocks, degradation of fisheries habitats, inefficient post-harvest practices and higher fuel costs. This has resulted in large numbers of disadvantaged people working on an increasingly declining resource base, making the fisheries sector a significant concern both economically and socially.

Sustainable Water Usage in the Chinyanja Triangle

KEY FACTS
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Chancellor College of Malawi
Bunda College University of Malawi
International Water Management Institute
Malawi Department of Irrigation
Malawi Department of Fisheries
Universitaet Osnabruck
 
Malawi
In sub-Saharan Africa, the integration of pond aquaculture into rainfall-based agriculture systems, using practices such as Integrated Agriculture Aquaculture (IAA), has been largely successful. In some cases, fishponds have doubled household income, and increased household food production by 150%. Farms using IAA are proving to be 8% more productive during droughts, with women becoming more actively involved. Adoption of the approach has been growing at 25% per annum in Malawi since 2000, and is fast expanding. This is especially noted in the Chinyanja Triangle in the lower Zambezi River Basin, an area that covers southern and central Malawi, central Mozambique and eastern Zambia.
 

Moving Towards an Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management Approach

KEY FACTS
Philippines Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR)
Department of Agriculture (DA)
Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR)
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)
National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI)
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Regional Offices in Region I,II, IV, V, VI, VIII, XI, and XIII
Pangasinan State University (PSU)
Palawan State University (PSU)
Bicol University (BU)
University of the Philippines in the Visayas (UPV)
Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College (NIPSC)
Southern Leyte State University (SLSU)
University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP)
Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology (DOSCST)
Davao del Norte State College
Southern Philippines Agri-Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology (SPAMAST)
Surigao del Sur State University (SDSSU)
Cagayan Valley Program for Peoples Economic Development (CAVAPPED)
 
Philippines
Biomass levels of coastal fish stocks in parts of the Philippines are now only 10-30% of the levels of the late 1940’s. In addition, 25-30% of total catch is lost due to improper handling, inadequate storage and inefficient marketing. This depletion in biomass has been caused by the lack of effective fishing controls, rapid increase in coastal population, insufficient government support for sustainable fisheries resources management programs, deteriorating marine habitats and worsening marine pollution.
 

Africa

 
 
Approximately 200 million Africans rely on fish as an important part of their diet. Ten million households directly derive income from fish production, processing or trade.
 
Yet the enormous potential of fisheries to help feed and improve the nutritional status of the rapidly-increasing population of Africa is greatly under-realized, and precious aquatic resources are being degraded.
 
 

 
Further content to be provided
 
 
 
 
Tags
Africa
Agriculture
Aquaculture
Fish farming
Fish trade
Food security
Gender
Inland Fisheries
Small-Scale Fisheries
Countries
Africa

Asia


Small-scale fisheries, Cambodia
 
 
In Asia as a whole fish provide 30% of the animal protein in a typical diet. Fishing and related industries provide either the main or a supplementary source of employment, livelihood and income for many of the region’s poor.
 
Recent work at the WorldFish Center has shown that the demand for fish will grow substantially in this region and projections suggest that if production can match demand, then total fish consumption in the region will rise from around 41.5 million tonnes in 2005 to 52.3 million tonnes by 2015.
 
Aquaculture development will be key to meeting that target. Rehabilitating and sustaining coastal fisheries is also crucial for small-scale fisher folk and their families across the region. We are also strongly engaged in addressing the challenges posed by climate change that are poised to have major impact on coastal areas across this region.
 
WorldFish is actively engaged in three areas:
  • South Asia
  • the Greater Mekong Basin
  • Philippines
South Asia
  • South Asia is home to nearly 40% of the world’s poorest people, those who survive on less than a dollar a day. India has the world’s highest proportion of malnourished children closely followed by Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka, 29% of preschoolers are underweight. The combined population of these five countries is expected to rise from the current 1.5 billion to 2.2 billion by 2050, with the biggest increases occurring in rural areas where the poorest people live. Together, population growth and global climate change threaten to reverse hard-won gains against extreme poverty and hunger.
  • Our work focuses primarily on Bangladesh. The overwhelming importance of fisheries and aquatic resources there provides a powerful entry point for addressing poverty, food insecurity and vulnerability to environmental shocks (floods, droughts, climate change). Our development of innovative fisheries co-management approaches in Bangladesh has been hailed as “an eminently replicable model for contemporary rural development.” Lessons learned on developing aquaculture in seasonal floodplains, integrating aquaculture with agriculture, and disseminating improved fish seed have also yielded benefits far beyond the country.
The Greater Mekong Basin
  • The Mekong Basin is a rich ecosystem that supports the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor in Southeast Asia. Encompassing the nations of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, it is coming under enormous intensification pressures for multiple uses that threaten to undermine its productivity and resilience.
  • Our work in this area largely focuses on Cambodia. The livelihoods of more that 74% of the population depends on agriculture and fisheries. Food security in Cambodia has traditionally had two dimensions: rice and fish, with fish being a central aspect of rural livelihood strategies. More than 80% of the total animal protein the Cambodian diet is estimated to come from fish and other aquatic animals. 
  • Cambodia has the most intensively exploited inland fishery in the world. The country’s fresh water capture fisheries rank as the fourth most productive in the world after China, India and Bangladesh. There is growing concern that a decline in capture fisheries would have immediate consequences for food security in rural Cambodia as the rural poor face an increasingly short supply of this staple food item in their traditional rice-fish diet.
  • The Mekong River is the second river in the world for its fish diversity, after the Amazon – the magnitude of which is only being discovered. In terms of fish biodiversity, the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia, with 197 species recorded so far, as the lake ecosystem having the fourth highest fish diversity in the world, or the richest lake in the world after east‐African lakes.
  • Plans for hydropower development in the Mekong have led to growing concern over the potential environmental, economic and social costs, and there is acute concern over the impact on the basin’s fisheries. Dams impact fish communities and the fisheries dependent upon them by changing the ecological functioning of the river ecosystems that sustain these communities and their fisheries.
The Philippines
  • Comprising more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines has an extensive coastline that is a key environmental and economic resource for the nation. The fisheries sector is vital to the Philippine economy providing substantial employment and income especially in rural areas, contributing to export earnings, and ensuring local food security as well as meeting nutrition requirements.
  • These coasts support a growing tourism industry and fisheries that provide about half of the dietary protein needs of the Philippine population. Fish and fish-based products are the major source of animal protein (70%) for the poor with fish expenditure accounting for over 16% of the total food budget for the lower income group. Mangroves, the salt-tolerant forests that play an important role in stabilizing the coastlines of the Philippines, also provide important nursery grounds for numerous fish species. However, the quantity and quality of harvestable resources from the country‘s coastal waters have declined dramatically due to overfishing and habitat degradation resulting from pollution, sedimentation, and the destruction of mangroves, and now has been exacerbated by the effects of climate change.
 
 
Tags
Markets
Inland Fisheries
Small-Scale Fisheries
Tilapia
Agriculture
Aquaculture
Asia
Fish trade
Gender
Fish farming
Fish culture
Countries
Asia
Subscribe to RSS - Small-Scale Fisheries