September 4, 2026
Representatives of small-scale fishers, fish workers, fisher women, collectors and Indigenous Peoples from across the world gathered in Rome ahead of the upcoming Small-Scale Fisheries Summit (SSF Summit) and 37th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI37), which will take place respectively from September 4 to 6 and from September 7 to 11.
In preparation for the discussions ahead, IPC’s fisheries working group took stock of the multiple, interlocking crises facing fisher peoples – climate, environmental, economic and social – and to collectively reaffirm the strategies guiding their struggle. Grounded in the knowledge and lived experience of its communities, the group reasserted its commitment to aquaecology, food sovereignty, and internationalist solidarity, while sharpening its political demands ahead of engagement with FAO.
The gathering not only brought together IPC members but also had dedicated a day to convening representatives of fisher movements outside the IPC family, both global and regional to strengthen collective action, exchange experiences, and converge on a united advocacy for the discussions at FAO.
At the centre of this meeting was the will to create a space of dialogue among a diversified group ofmovements to bring their voices into strategic, global policy spaces, advocating for transparent and effective government policies and placing small-scale fishing communities at the centre of global fisheries governance.
At the basis of this discussions were the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines), the result of an unprecedented global consultation with over 4,000 fishers, fish workers and other actors across 120 countries, and still the most legitimate international instrument for recognising and protecting the rights of small-scale fishers. Yet more than a decade since their adoption in 2014, and despite the creation in 2016 of a dedicated partnership mechanism (the Small-Scale Fisheries Global Strategic Framework – SSF-GSF) to support their implementation, the Guidelines remain largely unfulfilled. It is precisely this framework and its unrealised potential that the IPC Fisheries Working Group is now determined to revitalise.
For this reason, the Rome gathering is an opportunity for fisher movements to reactivate and strengthen the SSF-GSF and ensure that the voices and rights of small-scale fishing are heard and acknowledged by global fisheries governance actors.
To do so, fisherfolks of the IPC together with other regional fishers’ movements will dynamise the rightholders’ component of the Strategic Framework, through the revitalisation of theAdvisory Group, all committed to push for the implementation of the SSF guidelines.
As representatives of fisher movements come together in Rome, their message is clear: small-scale fishers and Indigenous Peoples are not stakeholders but rights-holders. Their knowledge, leadership, and political agency are essential to achieving Food Sovereignty.