Small Scale Responsible Fisheries Training

A new skills development project is being rolled out across coastal South Africa to educate and empower small-scale fishing communities around the importance of sustainable fishing. This new undertaking, the Small-scale Responsible Fisheries Training Project, was conceptualised by WWF South Africa (WWF-SA). It is being co-ordinated nationally by the International Ocean Institute - African Region (IOI-SA) and is funded by the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA). The project is designed so that a pool of members from small scale fishing communities are trained as trainers and empowered to deliver workshops to small scale fishing communities around South Africa. The workshops explain the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries and responsible practices through a series of discussions, videos, interactive games and presentations. Please see the booklet for more information on how the first stage of the project went, including lessons learned, feedback from communities and trainers and who we met along the way.

The goal is to deliver at least 36 courses over the next two years to 850 participants in the four coastal provinces of South Africa. The hope is to empower coastal communities to pass on their knowledge to others in the communities and encourage responsible decisions for the sustainability of fisheries and the marine environment. We hope that, after the two years, the courses will have gained traction in the coastal communities and will grow into a long-term project with new partnerships developing.