Until recently, the voices of millions of inland small-scale fishers, the primary users of freshwater resources and inland streams have been unheard. With the efforts of the WFFP working group on Inland Fishing and their first ever report on this neglected topic, time has come for a change.
In most countries around the world, almost all fisheries management policies are focused on marine fisheries, while inland fisheries are often confined to the informal or recreational fishing sector. In fact, if inland fisheries are considered from the macro-economic perspective of neo-liberal capitalist institutions and national governments, then their economic value is relatively small. Globally, inland fisheries are mostly small-scale and make a limited contribution to national GDPs. However, this perspective completely overlooks the health and nutritional, cultural and social value of livelihoods based on inland fisheries.
Cover photo: Lake Turkana, Kenya