Collaborative Fisheries Management

Healthy and productive fisheries benefit everyone. They provide reliable supplies for seafood businesses, nutritious and relatively low-carbon food for consumers, and economic opportunities for fishing communities. They also support healthy marine ecosystems and the wider benefits that oceans provide.

Governments have the primary responsibility for managing fisheries and protecting the health of fish stocks. However, fisheries are complex, and public authorities may face capacity, information, enforcement, or coordination constraints in addressing all fisheries effectively.

This is where collaboration across the seafood system can make a difference.

Collaborative fisheries management (CFM) is not about replacing government leadership or public authority. It is about strengthening government effectiveness by engaging fishers, fishing communities, companies, and other supply-chain actors as active partners in improving fisheries governance.

Those who depend on and benefit from fisheries have an important role to play in sustaining them. Fishers and fishing organizations can contribute local knowledge, data, compliance, and collective action. Companies and other value-chain actors can support better practices, transparency, traceability, sustainable financing, and implementation. By aligning commercial interests with public sustainability objectives, collaborative fisheries management can help secure healthier fisheries, resilient communities, and long-term supply.

SFP fosters collaboration and provides critical resources to industry.

Collaborative fisheries management is already taking place in fisheries around the world. SFP works with fishers, fishing organizations, governments, companies, and other stakeholders to strengthen and scale these efforts, supporting practical management approaches that improve fisheries performance, livelihoods, and ecosystem health.

• We support stakeholders to develop better practices, strengthen data and accountability, and improve fisheries resilience.
• We connect actors across the seafood system to share knowledge, coordinate action, and align efforts with national management frameworks.
• We provide technical assistance, support policy development, and help companies make credible commitments to responsible sourcing.

Together, these efforts can help secure fisheries that are economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and capable of supporting resilient coastal communities over the long term.