Conservation and Policy Funding Priorities: Big Barriers to Small-Scale Fisheries

Since the mid-1990s there has been a concerted effort to encourage fisheries sustainability by targeting large-scale, high-catch fisheries and by raising consumer awareness. Because of the often slow pace of regulatory approaches, this voluntary, market-oriented effort has been structured so as to avoid government involvement. But have smallscale fisheries, our best option for sustainable use of fisheries resources, been lost in the market-based push toward sustainability? In financial terms the largest sustainable fisheries initiative has been the U.S.-based Seafood Choices campaign, largely funded by the Packard Foundation. From 1999 to 2004, Seafood Choices invested $37 million in more than 30 nonprofit organizations to promote marketbased sustainable seafood initiatives, such as ecolabeling certification and seafood wallet cards that tell consumers which fish are being caught sustainably (Bridgespan Group 2005). In contrast, over the last decade, only 2 U.S.-based nonprofit organizations have invested <$1.5 million in research and policy reform related to global fisheries subsidies. Since the late 1990s the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has had one full-time person working on fisheries subsidies and lobbying countries to reduce subsidies (approximate cost < $100,000/year). In 2005 the nonprofit organization Oceana began a campaign against fisheries subsidies with some staff working part-time on the issue of subsidies (approximate cost < $75,000). In 2006 Oceana ramped up their efforts against subsidies (approximate cost $125,000– 150,000) and in 2007 spent approximately $400,000 on subsidy-related efforts, including a paid advertising campaign, media, staff, and travel (M. Hirshfield, personal communication). Although they are often described as very variable between countries, small-scale fisheries are characterized as fishers operating in boats of 15 m or less, or without