Roles of Institutions for the Governability of Small-Scale Fisheries

Institutions are key instruments in the governance system, playing an important role in its functionality and performance. From the interactive governance perspective, fisheries governability (or how governable fisheries are) depends largely on how governing institutions are designed and organized, how well they correspond with the natural and social systems that they aim to govern, and the extent to which they foster or inhibit collaboration and interaction among governing actors—including people employed in fisheries– and the institutions they have created for themselves at household and community levels. We argue that the governance of small-scale fisheries thus occurs in a landscape of institutional pluralism that is itself challenging from a governability perspective. The chapter examines two key international fisheries instruments—the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (1995) and the Voluntary Guidelines for Security Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) (2015)—and discusses their institutional role in fisheries governance and governability.