Governance and Management of Small-Scale Fisheries

Small-scale fisheries are diverse social-ecological systems that sustain the livelihoods, nutrition and cultural heritage of millions worldwide. Governance structures span customary norms, formal regulations and market mechanisms, reflecting a spectrum from community-based rule-making to state-led enforcement. Effective management blends local ecological knowledge with scientific assessment, often through participatory or co-management arrangements that empower fishers and foster stewardship. Rights-based tools—such as territorial user rights or limited entry schemes—seek to align economic incentives with sustainability, yet may exacerbate inequities if poorly designed. Adaptive governance emphasises multi-level coordination and learning to respond to environmental variability, ensuring resilience against resource decline and climate change. Central challenges include power asymmetries among fishers, intermediaries and regulators, enforcement gaps and the impacts of global seafood trade. Advances in institutional design now prioritise cross-scale linkages, stakeholder networks and feedback mechanisms, aiming to balance ecological health, equitable access and economic viability across diverse cultural and ecological contexts.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Governance and Management of Small-Scale Fisheries publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in governance and management of small-scale fisheries across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Common-pool resource: A resource from which exclusion of beneficiaries is difficult and where use by one individual reduces availability to others.

Co-management: A governance arrangement in which responsibility and authority are shared between local stakeholders and formal government agencies.

Patron–client relationship: An informal economic arrangement in which intermediaries provide credit or supplies to fishers in exchange for exclusive purchasing rights or loyalty.

Cross-scale governance: Institutional linkages and coordination across local, regional and national levels to support management objectives and resource sustainability.

References

1. Compliance in small-scale fisheries is linked to fisher-trader relations: not fishers alone (Southeast Asian case study). Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2023).
2. The Paradox of Privatization in Inland Fisheries Management: Lessons from a Traditional System. Sustainability (2023).
3. Lack of Cross-Scale Linkages Reduces Robustness of Community-Based Fisheries Management. PLOS ONE (2009).
4. Power Asymmetries in Small-Scale Fisheries: a Barrier to Governance Transformability?. Ecology and Society (2010).
5. Solutions for Recovering and Sustaining the Bounty of the Ocean: Combining Fishery Reforms, Rights-Based Fisheries Management, and Marine Reserves. Oceanography (2015).
6. Using social–ecological syndromes to understand impacts of international seafood trade on small-scale fisheries. Global Environmental Change (2015).