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Social protection for small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean region - A review











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    Book (stand-alone)
    Protection sociale des artisans pêcheurs de la région méditerranéenne
    Policy brief
    2019
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    Small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea Region represents a key segment of the fishing sector, accounting for the greatest part of the fleet in the region and more than a half of the total workers employed in the sector. Fisher and fishworker households are exposed to different risks and vulnerabilities, including human and natural hazards. Furthermore, fisheries remain one of the most hazardous occupations with a very high fatality rate. Access to markets, financial, social and institutional services along with diversified and alternative livelihoods opportunities is often poor. Degrading fish stocks and aquatic ecosystems worsen this, along with pressure from climate change and climate-induced shocks and hazards and competition over resources with other sectors. Despite the key role social protection can have in reducing poverty and vulnerability, social protection often does not reach the small-scale fishing sector. The limited availability of accurate, robust and timely data on the sector, challenged by the high levels of informality, irregularity and seasonal nature of small-scale fishing activity, can result in the exclusion of small-scale fishers from laws governing formal employment, therefore, hindering their participation in national social protection systems. This policy brief presents the outcomes of a study commissioned by the FAO and the GFCM on available social protection systems in five countries in the Mediterranean (Albania, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia). It identifies the conditions and vulnerabilities of fishers, along with best practices in the provision of social protection programs and policies, and proposes recommendations to improve the coverage and effective delivery of social protection programmes for small-scale fishers in the region.
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Widening access to social protection 2024
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    Small-scale fishing activities often involve high levels of informality, irregularity, and seasonality. This often hinders small-scale fishers in accessing social protection systems such as pension plans, unemployment benefits, and health insurance. Recognizing the distinctive circumstances of fisherfolk, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) aims to promote their economic inclusion and strengthen their resilience and livelihood security through the expansion of social protection to the fisheries and aquaculture sector. FAO has developed a methodology for a global database of social protection programmes accessible to the fisheries and aquaculture sector. The aim is to create a repository of the social protection programmes available for fishers in each country, and to assess the trends and gaps in adequate and comprehensive coverage.   In Colombia, Paraguay and Tunisia, FAO implemented a project called Social Protection for Fisheries and Aquaculture (SocPro4Fish) to build the institutional capacities of countries to extend adequate and comprehensive coverage of social protection to the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Social protection and sustainable natural resource management: initial findings and good practices from small-scale fisheries 2015
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    The paper explores how social protection interventions can be used to reduce the vulnerability and strengthen the resilience of households and communities who depend principally on renewable natural resources to sustain their livelihoods and food security, using the case of small-scale fisheries as an illustrative case. The paper identifies and reviews existing social protection policies, schemes and instruments with regard to their potential role in supporting the transition to sustainable natu ral resource management in fisheries, including the identification of universal and targeted social protection schemes and instruments that fisheries-dependent communities have access to, as well as how these groups are defined within the context of those policies. Special attention is given to social protection in the context of households’ disaster resilience. By providing an overview of the different sources of vulnerability and concrete examples of exclusion affecting actors in the fisheries sector, the document also increases awareness of the vulnerability of small-scale fishers and fish workers to natural and human-induced hazards as well as other social, economic or political risks. The paper shows that small-scale fishers and fishworkers are typically inadequately or totally unprotected. Very important is the recognition that social vulnerabilities are as significant as economic vulnerabilities, and that innovative interventions are needed to provide protections across the spec ific set of challenges that fishers face in each national and local context.

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