Progress report for
Fish Forever
Achievement at a glance
Between April 2017 and December 2021, Rare has mobilized USD $96 Million in philanthropy for sustainable small-scale fisheries and continued to highlight the importance of small scale fisheries for coastal climate resilience, food security and biodiversity conservation to mobilize additional support and financing for small-scale fisheries from governments, multilaterals, bilaterals, foundations and the private sector.Rare's Fish Forever program is a community focused approach that engages a scientifically informed, community-driven participatory process to design managed access and reserve areas to manage complex multi-species fisheries in developing nations. It currently works with more than 1,265 communities, 161 local governments across 8 countries worldwide, to protect 134 thousand hectares of coastal marine areas protected reserves. In addition, the Fish Forever program reaches approximately 154,000 fishers to sustainably manage more than 5.6 million hectares of managed access coastal marine areas.
Further, Rare's engagement in international policy fora, such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) over the past 5 years have allowed us to elevate the importance of sustainable small-scale fisheries and locally-led, nature-based solutions to the global stage. As such, recent achievements include the participation in a voluntary submission to the UNFCCC Secretariat in collaboration with other CSO from the Philippines, urging parties to adopt climate-friendly policies in fisheries and a joint submission to the Standing Committee of Finance that includes small-scale fisheries as part of the nature-based solutions discussion.
Challenges faced in implementation
Fish Forever focused on enhancing and adapting program delivery to achieve large-scale impact for coastal fisheries reform in the new COVID-19 reality. In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and all Fish Forever communities were placed under enhanced community quarantine and staff travel was suspended. It became clear that small-scale fisheries was an anchor for the vulnerable communities for food security and livelihoods with now an increasing need to protect and manage coastal resources as coastal communities coped with the pressures caused by the pandemic. \r\n\r\nTo further understand the initial effects of the pandemic, Rare conducted a survey across 527 fishers and 70 local governments from 6 countries to get a snapshot of their perceptions and initial responses. At least 95% of the fishers and local government respondents say that COVID-19 has impacted or severely impacted their locality. The most common impacts that both groups reported were (1) limited access to markets; (2) lower prices of fish catch and fish products; (3) limited access to fishing grounds; and (4) less income and food.Small-scale fisheries are disproportionately affected by the crisis. The sector has historically been marginalized and contains some of the poorest communities worldwide. While the small-holder productive sector has shown its significance for food security and livelihoods in times of COVID-19, the socio-economic consequence of the pandemic is likely to exacerbate the vulnerability of these communities, making investments in small-scale fisheries even more critical. Small-scale fisheries have now demonstrated that they provide a critical social safety net for communities through the provision of food security, nutrition, and livelihoods for millions of people globally. A thriving small-scale fishery sector can be viewed as a good example of a vital indicator of a sustainable blue economy for job security throughout coastal communities worldwide.
Next Steps
Rare will continue to empower local communities to sustainably change the way they protect their coastal waters and to build a movement for a sustainable, community-led management of national and regional fisheries. Rare will work towards its goal of 1 million fishers engaged, 500 local governments committed, and 125,000 square miles of coastal seas managed. It will continue to engage its extensive network of partners, local and national governments, local management bodies, and local champions and continue to lean on robust data sharing, proven behavior adoption strategies, and necessary local and national enabling policies.Rare will continue to demonstrate the importance of small-scale fisheries in achieving global goals for addressing climate change, ensuring a sustainable ocean economy, protecting biodiversity, and implementing activities important for a green recovery to COVID-19. Rare continues to raise awareness and offer policy support for the inclusion of coastal fisheries into national and international agreements, frameworks, and policies, like the National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, SDG 14 actions, and post-2020 biodiversity framework of the CBD. Fish Forever elevates the voices of local communities in global platforms demonstrating how sustainable small-scale fisheries improves food security, sustain livelihoods, protect coastal and marine ecosystems, and improves social and ecological resilience to climate change.
Rare is determined to further raise its ambition and meet existing commitments by enhancing the visibility and understanding of the role small-scale fishers play in improving their communities as well as the community’s recognition of their contribution to achieving global and national goals. Additionally, Rare is in the process of establishing a Global Network of Local Leaders comprised of elected officials from coastal fishing communities across the Fish Forever geographies.
Beneficiaries
The main beneficiaries of Rares Fish Forever program are fishers and workers in the Small-Scale Fisheries sector, as well as their families and other members of the coastal communities they belong to. The small-scale fishing sector employs 90% of all fishers globally, providing over 50% of the worlds global catch. There are about 50 million small-scale fishers worldwide and about 200 million people who work within the small-scale fisheries sector. As of December 2021, Rare is working with 1,265 different communities across 8 countries: Philippines, Indonesia, Mozambique, Brazil, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Honduras, and Guatemala. By 2022, Rare is determined to expand its reach to 1 million fishers across 10 countries.
In addition, we work closely with local, sub-national and national governments in our Fish Forever partner countries to support the development and implementation of ensuring the enabling conditions and policy frameworks are set up for lasting change in sustainable fisheries. To date, we are work with 23 sub-national government partners and 161 local government bodies worldwide.
The beneficiaries of our engagement also extends beyond the communities we work directly in, as we amplify the voices of coastal communities and small-scale fishers on the international stage (e.g., Our Oceans Conference), across relevant policy forums (e.g., UNFCCC), and through global partnerships and networks (e.g., Global Island Partnership). Thus, our work benefits all small-scale fishers by creating awareness and appreciation for their approach to the sustainable management of fisheries and the active conservation and restoration work for their coastal ecosystems.