Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries: Bringing together responsible and social development
13-17 October 2008, Bangkok, Thailand

Small-scale fisheries have the potential to significantly contribute to sustainable development, in particular with respect to such key issues as poverty reduction, food and livelihood security, balanced nutrition, wealth creation, foreign exchange earnings and coastal-rural development. Although the important role of small-scale fisheries has received growing attention in national, regional and international fora, there are, however, a number of significant impediments to small-scale fisheries realising their full potential. Small-scale fishers often face precarious and vulnerable living and working conditions.

The Conference will have a broad scope allowing for the discussion of a wide range of issues including, inter alia, wider social and economic development and human rights issues, governance, fisheries policy processes and systems, fisheries management approaches and market access aspects and means of increasing post harvest benefits. A special focus of the conference, however, will be on the issue of securing access and user rights by small-scale fishers, indigenous peoples, and fishing communities to coastal and fishery resources that sustain their livelihoods.

In addition to the main conference program, comprising plenary sessions and concurrent working group sessions, post-conference tour would also be arranged (optional) to provide first-hand experience of the small-scale fisheries situation in Thailand. for further information about the Conferece, visit www.4ssf.org

Like tropical fisheries in the other parts of the world, fisheries in Southeast Asia is generally characterized by multi-species, multi-gear and dominated by small-scale components, and providing significant contribution to local food security, sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation. Despite its importance, issues of small-scale fisheries have been addressed at the international only in the recent years. In order to prepare the readiness of the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Member Countries for the forthcoming global Conference on Small-Scale Fisheries to be organized by FAO in October 2008, SEAFDEC from 29 April to 2 May 2008 organized the SEAFDEC Regional Technical Consultation (RTC) on Small-Scale Fisheries in Southeast Asia in Bangkok, Thailand.

The RTC was participated in by representatives from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as representatives from ASEAN Secretariat, FAO/RAP, and Mekong River Commission. The RTC started with the statements made by each member countries on the importance, problems and existing national policies relevant to small-scale fisheries. Following the presentation, the Member Countries discussed and agreed with the regional coordinated position on small-scale fisheries, which is envisaged to be used as a framework and directions for sustainable management and promotion of small-scale fisheries of the region.

In addition to the preparation for the Small-Scale fisheries Global Conference, the RTC also took the opportunity to discuss the detailed activities under the project on “Promotion of Rights-based Fisheries through Co-management Approach for Small-scale Fisheries in the Southeast Asian Region to be implemented by SEAFDEC in 2008.