A Framework for Allocating Fishing Rights in Small-Scale Fisheries

The FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Small-Scale Fisheries have called out the need to provide secure tenure rights as a means of securing livelihoods, promoting food security, and poverty alleviation, all of which can support the human rights of small-scale fishers. However, there are few examples to be found in the literature of the necessary processes and mechanisms for allocating such rights to small-scale fishers. This paper describes the steps necessary for engaging stakeholders in such a process and provides examples of novel fisheries allocation mechanisms that may address the concerns of small-scale fisheries.