UNOC3 Urges Action to Protect Small-Scale Fisheries

Fishers at Magogoni fish market. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

Just before dawn, the worn wooden dhows begin gliding into the shore at Magogoni fish market in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam. Their tattered sails catch the breeze against the orange morning sky. Exhausted fishers step out onto the muddy sand, dragging frayed nets and plastic crates, their sun-creased faces reflecting quiet determination and fatigue.

This familiar scene — women in colorful khanga bargaining over modest catches, children weaving between upturned buckets, and the strong smell of raw sewage flowing into the sea through rusted pipes — underscores a daily struggle for survival. Thousands of small-scale fishers along the Indian Ocean coast depend on these waters to feed their families and sustain their communities.

Yet, a much larger story is unfolding.

Over 7,000 kilometers away, in Nice, France, global leaders, scientists, and policymakers gathered this week for the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3). The event marked the launch of the Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report paints a grim picture of the world’s oceans — and offers a stark warning for vulnerable coastal communities like those in Tanzania.

According to the FAO, only 47.4% of fish stocks in the Eastern Central Atlantic are being fished at sustainable levels. The remainder are overexploited or at risk of collapse — victims of climate change, inadequate governance, and severe data gaps.

“We now have the clearest picture ever of the state of marine fisheries,” said Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General. “The next step is clear: governments must scale up what works and act with urgency.”

For fishers like Daudi Kileo, 51, who has spent decades on the ocean, urgency is long overdue. “We don’t get enough catch these days, but we keep working hard,” he said by phone from Dar es Salaam. Pulling in nearly empty nets has become an all-too-common experience.

In Tanzania, most small-scale fishers work informally. Their boats are unregistered, lacking modern sensors or licensing. Catches go unrecorded. There are no quotas, little enforcement, and minimal access to training in sustainable practices. Every night, they head into deeper waters — increasingly with little to show for it.

“Sometimes we come back with less than we need to feed our children,” Kileo said. “But we do not have a choice.”

While Tanzanian fishers face shrinking catches and rising hardship, other parts of the world present a contrasting picture. In Port Lympia, the harbor in Nice, small boats sway gently in clean waters, many now repurposed for tourism rather than fishing. It is a glimpse of what’s possible when marine policy emphasizes protection over exploitation.

“There’s a future where the ocean can feed us sustainably,” said Professor Manuel Barange, Director of the FAO Fisheries Division. “But it requires deep, structural change — and fast.”

Central to that vision is the FAO’s Blue Transformation initiative — an ambitious global strategy to reform aquatic food systems through sustainable practices, stronger governance, and community inclusion. The strategy prioritizes ethical fishing, improved monitoring, and the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, a major threat to fragile ecosystems and livelihoods.

Yet, bringing that transformation to life in low-income countries like Tanzania remains a monumental challenge.

“We don’t have the tools or the support,” said Yahya Mgawe of the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute. “The fishers are many, our data is patchy, and enforcement is weak. We are falling behind.”

The consequences are far-reaching. Tanzania’s fisheries sector employs over 180,000 people, most in small-scale operations. Fish not only provide income but essential nutrition, particularly in rural areas. As climate change disrupts fish migration and breeding cycles, and as competition grows in depleted waters, traditional knowledge is proving insufficient.

“Everything is shifting,” said Nancy Iraba, a marine ecologist at the University of Dar es Salaam. “Species that were once common are disappearing. Fish are getting smaller. And fishers are investing more time and effort for smaller returns.”

Globally, the FAO report shows that where governance is stronger — such as in the Northeast Pacific — over 90% of fish stocks are harvested sustainably. Experts credit real-time data, strict quotas, and cross-border cooperation for these gains.

In contrast, countries in Africa and across the Global South are experiencing growing disparities.

“The fishers of Tanzania are not the cause of ocean depletion,” said Iraba. “But they are among the first to pay the price.”

Recognizing this injustice, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu used the conference to champion small-scale fishers as essential to global food security and guardians of marine biodiversity. He called for their inclusion in policymaking and greater investment in their resilience.

“Fishers are not just producers,” Dongyu said. “They are nutrition providers and economic anchors in coastal societies. Transformation must be environmental, social, and economic — all at once.”

He also urged countries to invest in youth engagement, noting that with the global population nearing 10 billion, young people must lead innovation in marine sectors. “They must be leaders, not just observers,” he stressed.

Despite some progress — with sustainable fisheries now accounting for 82.5% of global landings — the percentage of overfished stocks remains high at 35.4%. And while global goals call for protecting 30% of marine areas by 2030, only 2.7% of oceans are effectively protected today.

The funding gap is also daunting. Experts estimate that up to $175 billion per year is needed to achieve sustainable fisheries globally. So far, pledges fall far short of that target.

As the conference concludes, the FAO marked its 80th anniversary and 30 years of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries with a renewed call for innovation, launching a new recognition program for sustainable aquaculture.

“Effective management is the best conservation,” Dongyu reminded delegates. “Our oceans, rivers, and lakes can help feed the world — but only if we use their resources responsibly, sustainably, and equitably.”

Back in Dar es Salaam, as the sun rises higher over Magogoni beach, fishers prepare for another uncertain night at sea. The tide rolls in over sand streaked with the remains of the morning’s modest catch.

“We hear empty talk of big meetings and policies all the time,” Kileo said. “But nobody comes here to ask us how we survive. Nobody helps us when the fish disappear.”

His quiet words echo a painful truth: unless small-scale fishers are placed at the heart of the global ocean agenda, the transformation may arrive — but leave the most vulnerable behind.