Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.8
3.3
Journals
Sustainability
Special Issues
Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects
sustainability-logo
Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2021) | Viewed by 18903

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Liontakis Angelos

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Agricultural Economics Research Institute Hellenic Agricultural Organization-DEMETER, P.C. 11855 , Athens (Ilisia), Greece
Interests: Agricultural Economics; Regional Growth; Fisheries Economics; Environmental economics; Sustainability
Dr. Tzouramani Irene

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agricultural Economics Research Institute Hellenic Agricultural Organization-ELGO-DIMITRA, P.C. 11145, Athens, Greece
Interests: agricultural economics; fisheries economics; socio-economics; sustainability; agricultural policy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

At present, more and more research effort is being devoted to the part of the fishing sector focused on small-scale and artisanal fisheries. The small-scale fishing (SSF) sector has gained the attention of scientists and policy makers, as it highly contributes to nutrition, food security, and poverty alleviation, especially in developing countries, while it provides sustainable livelihoods to millions of people along the distribution chain.

Likewise, in developed countries, the importance of SSF to national economies has been widely recognized. The socioeconomic role of SSF is highlighted as a key driver for sustainable growth and local development. SSF provides income and employment in many coastal communities and promotes social cohesion and sustainability. In addition, it creates added value as it produces high-quality products that are distributed through short—and mostly local—value chains. Moreover, SSF promotes environmental sustainability as, in general, it has a low impact on the environment.

Despite its importance, however, the SSF sector faces multiple challenges: fishery overexploitation, climate change, weak and fragmented market structure, competition and conflicts with other fishing (e.g., large-scale fisheries, recreational fisheries) and nonfishing sectors (e.g., other industries, tourism, aquaculture), weak governance and lack of synergies, weak participation in decision-making, and difficulty in adopting innovation, to name but a few. These challenges create a highly vulnerable environment that contributes to increased income risk and uncertainty for fishers and hinders the success and the sustainable growth of the sector with multiple further consequences to the society. Even though fishery management mechanisms are sometimes in place, they cannot always ensure SSF sustainability. To deal with this, many scholars highlight the need for an ecosystem-based management plan for fisheries and coastal zones.

The aims of this Special Issue are twofold: firstly, to augment the understanding and reveal the key socioeconomic factors and management strategies that promote or tackle sustainability and in general, success of the SSF sector as well as the development of coastal communities; and secondly, to highlight the adjustments that SSF enterprises have to make to reach sustainability and improve fishers’ livelihood. 

As the aforementioned issues are, by definition, multidisciplinary in nature, this Special Issue welcomes submissions from a broad range of research fields that highlight the socioeconomic aspects of the SSF sector and its enterprises, assist in the design of more efficient, evidence-based policies, and management plans and provide new directions for research.

Dr. Liontakis Angelos
Dr. Irene Tzouramani
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Fishery economics
  • Local development and regional growth
  • Socioeconomics
  • Fisheries/Rural sociology
  • Income risk and uncertainty
  • Poverty alleviation
  • Marine policy
  • Environmental economics
  • Gender issues in fisheries
  • Ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 25059 KiB  
Article
Adaptation Strategies to a Changing Resource Base: Case of the Gillnet Nile Perch Fishery on Lake Victoria in Uganda
by Veronica Mpomwenda, Tumi Tómasson, Jón Geir Pétursson, Anthony Taabu-Munyaho, Herbert Nakiyende and Daði Mar Kristófersson
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2376; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042376 - 18 Feb 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3408
Abstract
Sustainable management of fisheries has proven to be a daunting exercise for Lake Victoria. Exploitation patterns in the fishery are driven by fishers who adopt different strategies as a response to changing economic, management, socio-economic, and resource conditions. Fisheries managers, however, seldom consider [...] Read more.
Sustainable management of fisheries has proven to be a daunting exercise for Lake Victoria. Exploitation patterns in the fishery are driven by fishers who adopt different strategies as a response to changing economic, management, socio-economic, and resource conditions. Fisheries managers, however, seldom consider these changes in management policies. The aim of the study, therefore, was to evaluate the adaptation strategies of the Nile perch gillnet fishers on Lake Victoria in Uganda using 8-year catch and effort data collected in the period from 2005 to 2015. Trends of the selected effort and catch variables in the study period identified two adaptive fishing strategies by gillnet fishers on the lake. The first group, the paddled fishermen whose gillnet use varied in the first half of the study, diverted to harvesting juvenile Nile perch by using smaller, mesh sizes, monofilament nets and gillnets of less depth in the second half of the study. Motorized fishers, on the other hand, maintained their mesh size, using multifilament gillnets, however, they increased the depth of their nets in the second half of the study period to maintain their targeted fish size. Fishers on Lake Victoria adapted strategies to cope with their constraints and opportunities based on the Nile perch population structure and their economic needs. It is important for fishery managers to consider that the fishers are an integral part of the fisheries ecosystems, and considering their behavior in management decisions will aid in devising adaptive policies for sustainable resource use and sustainable livelihood development of the fishers’ communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 2072 KiB  
Article
Who Becomes a Fisherman? A Two-Stage Sample Selection Analysis on Small-Scale Fishery Choice and Income in Korea
by Jaehee Hwang
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2167; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042167 - 14 Feb 2022
Viewed by 1553
Abstract
The sustainability of coastal communities is emerging as a primary topic in policy groups. In Korea, the multifunctionality of small-scale fisheries is being emphasized, and the government has attempted various policies, such as the promotion of in-migration and the fishery industry. However, despite [...] Read more.
The sustainability of coastal communities is emerging as a primary topic in policy groups. In Korea, the multifunctionality of small-scale fisheries is being emphasized, and the government has attempted various policies, such as the promotion of in-migration and the fishery industry. However, despite the diverse alternatives, the population and fisheries have been continuously downsizing. This trend threatens the sustainability and pluralistic values of coastal communities. This study identifies the crucial determinants needed to expand small-scale fisheries and enhance the economic motivation for sustainable coastal communities. The analysis is conducted with a two-stage Heckman selection model using the Korea Fishery Census and the Agricultural Census. The estimation results show that the socioeconomic incentives and performance of fisheries in coastal areas are limited. In particular, although the policy pays attention to young, highly educated, and in-migrant groups, it seems to have a limited preference for small-scale fisheries due to economic, societal, and institutional constraints. On the other hand, the family-oriented fishing activities and self-governance unique to fishing villages in Korea could improve the multifunctionality of small-scale fisheries in Korea. In addition, when a fishery household engages in production and sales activities as a member of a fraternity or collective wholesale contract, economic outcomes significantly increase. The results suggest that it is necessary to sustain communal socioeconomic activities by opening up communities and adjusting specific operating systems of self-governance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 923 KiB  
Article
Is Co-Management Still Feasible to Advance the Sustainability of Small-Scale African Inland Fisheries? Assessing Stakeholders’ Perspectives in Zambia
by Sydney Kapembwa, Jόn G. Pétursson and Alan J. Gardiner
Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13986; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413986 - 17 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2591
Abstract
Co-management has been promoted as an alternative approach to the governance of small-scale inland fisheries resources and has been implemented in many African countries. It has, however, not proven to be a simple solution to improve their governance; hence, most African inland fisheries [...] Read more.
Co-management has been promoted as an alternative approach to the governance of small-scale inland fisheries resources and has been implemented in many African countries. It has, however, not proven to be a simple solution to improve their governance; hence, most African inland fisheries are still experiencing unsustainable overexploitation of their resources. As such, there is a need for reassessing the application of governance strategies for co-management that should strive to strengthen the participation of stakeholders, primarily the local fishers, as they are fundamental in the governance of fisheries resources. Therefore, this study set out to explore the prospects of a co-management governance approach at a Lake Itezhi-Tezhi small-scale fishery in Zambia. Focus group discussions with fishers and semi-structured interviews with other stakeholders were used to collect data. This study revealed that the stakeholders perceive co-management as a feasible approach to governance of the Lake Itezhi-Tezhi fishery. However, the feasibility of the co-management arrangement would be dependent mostly on the stakeholders’ ability to address most of the ‘key conditions’ criteria highlighted in the study. This study also identified the need to establish a fisheries policy to provide guidelines for the co-management, coming with decentralisation of power and authority to the local fishers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 1145 KiB  
Article
Socio-Economic Conditions of Small-Scale Hilsa Fishers in the Meghna River Estuary of Chandpur, Bangladesh
by Maruf Ahmed, Sabrina Jannat Mitu, Petra Schneider, Masud Alam, Mohammad Mojibul Hoque Mozumder and Md. Mostafa Shamsuzzaman
Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12470; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212470 - 11 Nov 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3074
Abstract
Hilsa fish (Tenualosa ilisha) have become an essential factor behind the well-being of the fishing community, giving fishers their identity as a source of cultural heritage. A field survey was conducted to understand the socio-economic conditions of hilsa fishers at the [...] Read more.
Hilsa fish (Tenualosa ilisha) have become an essential factor behind the well-being of the fishing community, giving fishers their identity as a source of cultural heritage. A field survey was conducted to understand the socio-economic conditions of hilsa fishers at the Meghna river estuary of Chandpur District using well-structured questionnaire interviews (N = 250) with hilsa fishers. The survey revealed that fishers’ livelihoods and living conditions were still below average due to low literacy levels, lack of professional skills, and low incomes. More than two-thirds of the fishers were entirely dependent on hilsa fishing, while more than one-third had between 11 and 20 years of fishing experience. More than two-thirds of the fishers did not have an alternative occupation during ban periods, and the incentives provided by the government were not adequately received by half of the fishers. Fishers were divided into three groups according to their dependence on hilsa fishing. Significant differences were found between these groups in terms of the age of fishers, annual income from fishing, and annual fishing activity days. Therefore, the government, Fisheries cooperatives, NGOs, and other relevant organizations must unite to support fishers for sustainable hilsa fishery management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 1400 KiB  
Article
Small-Scale Coastal Fisheries in the Midst of Adaptation and Diversification: Insights from Southern Italy
by Agata Nicolosi, Donatella Di Gregorio, Giuseppe Arena, Valentina Rosa Laganà and Donatella Privitera
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7393; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137393 - 1 Jul 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2889
Abstract
The study looks at the problems facing coastal fishing communities. It highlights the impacts that, in the complex framework of the EU reforms, have manifested themselves on economic activities and on society. The aim of the paper is twofold: to examine small-scale artisanal [...] Read more.
The study looks at the problems facing coastal fishing communities. It highlights the impacts that, in the complex framework of the EU reforms, have manifested themselves on economic activities and on society. The aim of the paper is twofold: to examine small-scale artisanal fishing in an area of Southern Italy in order to develop resilience and diversification and at the same time to outline the profiles of local bluefish buyers to highlight development strategies for the sector. The research carried out through a direct survey by administering a questionnaire to fishermen operating in areas of Southern Italy and the data cross-referenced with the opinions of local consumers. A conjoint experiment, followed by a multiple correspondence analysis and cluster identification, was used to outline the profiles of local bluefish buyers. The results of the analysis reveal that the fish market and the restaurant sector are the main distribution channels preferred by fishermen. Furthermore, fishermen are very sensitive to environmental issues and are willing to collaborate and actively participate in the environmental protection of the sea. Consumers recognise the quality of local bluefish, and they implicitly perceive the sustainability of the method of capture. The results show the need to undertake synergistic actions for the fishing industry, capable of activating marketing strategies adequately to support, promote and develop the sector. The results of the study provide helpful information for food companies in order to better segment their market and target their consumers, as well as to effectively promote their product using brands, certifications and traceability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 943 KiB  
Article
Unravelling the Role of Gender in Fisheries’ Socio-Economic Performance: The Case of Greek Small-Scale Fisheries
by Angelos Liontakis, Irene Tzouramani, Stamatis Mantziaris and Alexandra Sintori
Sustainability 2020, 12(13), 5304; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135304 - 30 Jun 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3110
Abstract
Small-scale fisheries account for 94% of the Greek fishing fleet. The sector consists mainly of family-owned vessels and highly depends on family labor. While the role of women as crew members is of particular interest, there is little evidence of their actual employment [...] Read more.
Small-scale fisheries account for 94% of the Greek fishing fleet. The sector consists mainly of family-owned vessels and highly depends on family labor. While the role of women as crew members is of particular interest, there is little evidence of their actual employment status, labor situation, and contribution in the fishing activity. This paper focuses on women in small-scale fisheries in order to investigate their role in the sector and reveal their contribution to fishing enterprises. In addition, it implements a comparative analysis to investigate the differences in various socio-economic indicators in small-scale vessels with and without female crew members. The results indicate that the presence of women has a positive outcome on several social and economic indicators that reflect the wealth of both fishing households and employees. In terms of employment, several differences in the structural characteristics appeared regarding the onshore employment, the share of unpaid labor, and the total hours worked. The majority of female crew members can be characterized as “fisherwomen,” since fishing is their main occupation. Further in-depth research to investigate the family relations among crew members and how they affect the fishing enterprise can supplement the existing research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries: Recent Trends and Future Prospects)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-6
Back to TopTop