Equity challenges in resources and market access in small-scale fisheries

Small-scale fisheries play a crucial role in supporting the livelihoods of coastal communities and ensuring food security, thus contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, they face major equity challenges regarding access to marine resources and markets and bargaining power, among others. The need for progress in access for small-scale fishers is specifically recognized within the SDGs, notably SDG 14.b (which aims to "ensure access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets"). An export small-scale fishery in Madagascar was used to further investigate these challenges and their effects on resource sustainability. The study highlighted significant temporal and geographical variability in catch, fishing gears, market conditions, and ex-vessel prices at regional scale. Fishers operated within a 10-km distance from their villages and face varying fluctuations in catch abundance due to ecological factors. The dominant “patron-client” relationship in the value chain negatively impacted ex-vessel prices and fishers’ profits, including during the high abundance period following the annual fishing closure. Local buyers and exporting firms were therefore the primary beneficiaries of the market context. The study emphasized the lack of organized structures in the fishery, which hampers market efficiency and exacerbates inequalities among fishers, who were price takers with restricted access to national and international markets. Price and profit variations highlighted the tensions between fishers’ socioeconomic needs and the marine resource sustainability and the urgent need for enhanced equity in access to markets. The study suggests and discusses the opportunity for setting minimum fair prices through negotiations among fishers, buyers, and exporting firms within a stakeholder forum as a way to voice vulnerable actors’ needs and increase equity in small-scale fisheries.