Tenure, transparency, and tech: protecting small-scale fisheries worldwide

Image © Environmental Justice Foundation

In June 2025, at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, an announcement from an African nation signalled a hopeful step forward – Ghana’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Emelia Arthur, pledged to extend inshore exclusive zones for artisanal fishers by six nautical miles. This was a clear commitment to supporting small-scale fisheries in her home country. “The decision was a victory for locally led marine conservation organisations,” says Ebrima Saidy, CEO of Blue Ventures, an environmental not-for-profit organisation that works with local communities to protect fish stocks, care for marine habitats, and find new ways to safeguard the ocean. “I hope other nations will recognise and learn from the practical solutions that small-scale fishers are using to manage their coasts effectively.” ¹ 

Strengthening the tenure of local fisheries  

As stewards of land and sea, fishers help sustain the diverse ecosystems where they live and work. When local communities, small-scale fishers, and fish workers are fully supported to use, conserve, manage, and develop their coastal areas, there are better environmental and societal outcomes. This is why international re-granter Turning Tides supports coastal and shoreline communities and small scale fishers. Turning Tides works across Asia, Africa, and Latin America to address the unique challenges of each region. It helps ensure that the concerns, actions of local communities, and tenure rights are represented and reflected in global decision-making processes and policies.² 

Putting a stop to bottom trawling  

Industrial fishing practices like bottom trawling are, in some cases, driving fish stocks to the brink of collapse.³ This practice involves dragging weighted nets over the seabed, destroying marine habitats. The Transform Bottom Trawling Coalition is a global movement bringing together small-scale fisher and environmental organisations to stop bottom trawling in nearshore areas and in vulnerable ecosystems.  

The coalition ensures that its members have access to the funding, technical support, and networks they need to support coastal communities, promote practical solutions, and achieve lasting change. “We aim to support governments so that they can restrict bottom trawling in all marine protected areas, and create inshore exclusion zones that are sustainably managed by artisanal fishers,” says Annie Tourette of Blue Ventures, which hosts the Transform Bottom Trawling Coalition.  

Transparency that protects artisanal fishers  

Artisanal fishers’ efforts to manage nearshore areas sustainably are regularly undermined by industrial vessels engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The lack of transparency in the fishing industry hampers efforts to protect these areas and restricts local governments’ ability to act. This is according to the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, a global network of civil society organisations that work together to improve transparency and accountability in fisheries’ governance and management.⁴ 

The Coalition’s Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency works with governments around the world to make transparent information on fishing vessels, fishing activity, and fisheries governance and management. This information includes fishing vessel identification numbers, vessel ownership data, fishing licenses and vessel position data, and information about transshipment, a process of transferring goods from one vessel to another.  

“Transparency is a critical tool for combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing practices,” says Maisie Pigeon, director of the coalition. “The good news is we can achieve transparency today through simple, affordable measures that countries can readily implement.”⁵  

Strengthening local fisheries through satellite surveillance  

Global Fishing Watch uses cutting edge technology to turn big data into actionable information. Satellite imagery, combined with GPS data from fishing vessels, is now being used to analyse millions of gigabytes of data and create a first-of-its-kind global snapshot of maritime industrial activity. However, as long as fisheries data is not made publicly accessible, the platform offers only a partial view.  

This is why FIMA NGO works with lawyers located in different countries and uses surveillance data from Global Fishing Watch to gather information on illicit fishing practices. With this information, they can support legal processes and help local authorities uphold laws that discourage illegal fishing. 

FIMA NGO’s Legal Ocean Watch project brings together organisations in Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Chile, which are working to curb the illegal and unregulated fishing practices that threaten Latin America’s marine ecosystems, human rights, and coastal economies. Legal Ocean Watch supports organisations to use data from surveillance to build and pursue robust legal cases. It also helps countries use the data to strengthen their judicial processes and regulations.⁶  

“By using satellite positioning systems to monitor illegal fishing at sea, civil society organisations can use this information to improve the chances of apprehending and prosecuting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in our oceans,” says FIMA NGO’s general coordinator Antonia Berrios.  

In June 2026, Kenya will be the first African country to host the Our Ocean Conference. Our grantees seek to come up with practical approaches that strengthen local fisheries and protect marine ecosystems. They offer models to help sustainably regulate fisheries around the world, and better support thriving, local coastal communities globally.  

Oak supports Blue Ventures, the Transform Bottom Trawling Coalition, Turning Tides, the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, Global Fishing Watch and FIMA NGO through our Environment Programme. We support efforts that protect the food security of coastal communities and ensure the health of marine ecosystems. 

References: 
_{1: Saidy, E. Ghana leads the way in transforming bottom trawling. For the Ocean, 27 August 2025. Available at: for-the-ocean.org/ghana-bottom 
trawling/ (Accessed 23 February 2026). 
2: Turning Tides Facility. Our Work – Strategy Turning Tides 2030. Turning Tides Facility, n.d. Available at: turningtidesfacility.org/our-work/ 
(Accessed 23 February 2026). 
3&4: Coalition for Fisheries Transparency. Transparence – un outil essentiel dans la lutte contre la pêche illégale. YouTube video, n.d. Available at: youtu.be/RXsB7BtsjXc (Accessed 23 February 2026). 
5: Coalition for Fisheries Transparency. Fisheries Transparency. n.d. Available at: fisheriestransparency.net/ (Accessed 23 February 2026). 
6: FIMA. Legal Ocean Watch – Tag Page. n.d. Available at: en.fima.cl/tag/legal-ocean-watch/ (Accessed 23 February 2026).}