The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

participatory methods to conduct consultations 
with key actors to identify and operationalize the 
most appropriate tenure and user rights systems. 
The effectiveness of a given tenure system 
depends, to a large extent, on the collective 
involvement and ownership of the system by 
the resource users. This can be illustrated 
by co-management arrangements for locally 
managed marine areas or the use of spatial 
solutions such as territorial user rights that are 
developed with the direct involvement of local 
communities of resource users. 
The Code is the global normative guidance 
framework that can inspire inclusive and fair 
tenure systems in support of sustainable fisheries 
and aquaculture (FAO, 1995). Specifically – 
anticipating to a certain extent SDG Target 14.b – 
paragraph 6.18 of the Code says:
 
“States should 
appropriately protect the rights of fishers 
and fishworkers, particularly those engaged 
in subsistence, small-scale and artisanal 
fisheries, to a secure and just livelihood, as 
well as preferential access, where appropriate, 
to traditional fishing grounds and resources in 
the waters under their national jurisdiction.” 
Similarly, paragraph 9.1.4 of the Code calls on 
States to ensure that the livelihoods of local 
communities, and their access to fishing grounds, 
are not negatively affected by aquaculture 
developments. Other relevant paragraphs of the 
Code state that:
„
fishing communities should also be part of 
the decision-making processes and involved 
in other activities related to coastal area 
management planning and development 
(10.1.2); 
„
institutional and legal frameworks [should] … 
determine the possible uses of coastal resources 
and to govern access to them should take into 
account the rights of coastal fishing communities 
and their customary practices compatible with 
sustainable development (10.1.3);
„
States should facilitate the adoption of 
fisheries practices that avoid conflict among 
fisheries resources users and between them 
and other users of the coastal area (10.1.4).
In addition, other related global instruments that 
serve as guidance frameworks for secure tenure, 
user and access rights include the ones listed 
above: the VGGT; the SSF Guidelines; the FAO 
Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive 
Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in 
the Context of National Food Security; and the 
CFS-RAI. All these voluntary guidelines support 
an emerging human rights-based approach that 
requires, among other things, good governance,