Fisheries take centre stage at 4th World Small-scale Fisheries Congress

FISHERIES were celebrated for their contributions to society, food security, employment, to South Africa’s GDP and local economies on World Fisheries Day. In Cape Town, the problems facing small-scale fisheries (SSF) took centre stage at the 4th World SmallScale Fisheries Congress (4WSFC).

Environmental groups and fishers gathered for the 4WSFC at the Lagoon Beach Hotel to highlight problems facing the fishing industry, including overfishing and severe ocean and coastal pollution, in hopes of furthering solutions and finding sustainable means of maintaining fish stocks.

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) has been part of this congress network since 2010 and was hosting this year’s congress in Cape Town with its Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (Plaas) and other stakeholders.

Programme manager Carmen Mannarino at Masifundise, a civil society organisation that works with fishing communities, said: “Today we want to honour and celebrate small-scale fishers in South Africa and around the globe but to also remember the struggle of fishers and fishing communities for recognition, access, and their fight against the exploitation of the natural resources through the blue economy.”

Mannarino said some of the key challenges that small-scale fishers faced included the increase in ocean grabbing, land grabbing, mining, aquaculture and conservation.

UWC professor Moeniba Isaacs said the congress theme was Leaderships for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, and focused on leaders in action research and on “blue justice” for small-scale fisheries.