From 4th to 8th May 2022, the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) and partners attended the workshop “IYSFA 2022 – Celebrating Sustainable and Equitable Small-scale Fisheries: Asia” organized by International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) and the Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF) in Bangkok, Thailand.

The workshop aimed to enhance the participation and cooperation of small-scale fisheries organizations to promote food security, equitable resource access and recognition of women’s roles in fisheries. It featured thematic sessions on topics such as “Access to resources for small-scale fisheries communities”, “Social development for sustainable small-scale fisheries, food security and poverty eradication”, “Gender issues in fisheries” and “Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) framework”.

The workshop brought together 58 delegates from 11 Asian countries, including representatives from Vietnam. The Vietnamese delegates included Ms. Than Thi Hien – MCD’s Vice Director and representatives of community organizations participating in the co-management of aquatic resources protection in Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh province, Mr. Nguyen Ton Xuan Sang – Director of Tourism and Fisheries Service Cooperative in Nhon Hai Commune and Ms. Mai Thi Huong – Director of Huong Thanh Seafood Production and Trading Cooperative in Nhon Ly Commune. The Vietnamese delegates actively participated and contributed ideas with members from other countries, and delivering discussion reports and presentations during the event.

Workshop information and materials can be found at:

http://icsf.net/resources/asia-workshop-iyafa-2022-celebrating-sustainable-and-equitable-small-scale-fisheries/

The workshop provided MCD and its partners with an opportunity to learn from and collaborate with small-scale fisheries organizations across the region. It also served as a platform to share lessons learned from Vietnam’s co-management initiatives in aquatic resources protection under the project “Supporting Vietnamese fisheries reform under the Fisheries Law 2017 from national to local action“. This project, implemented by MCD and funded by Ocean 5 through Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), focuses on scaling up co-management practices in the aquatic resources protection in 03 coastal provinces (Binh Dinh, Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa). The initiative aims to offer practical insights and strengthen capacity building among participating partners.