Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) supply more than half of all fish consumed worldwide and provide food security and livelihoods for millions of people globally, particularly in the Global South. Yet, SSFs are increasingly threatened by two interconnected issues: climate change and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. As a result, there is an increasing need to protect the marine ecosystems surrounding SSFs and build resilience in the communities that depend on them. Within local communities, access to resources, decision-making power, and adaptive capacity are shaped by gender, yet its role in influencing vulnerability and resilience to these threats is often overlooked.
In a recent UBC study, researchers investigated the gendered impacts of climate change and IUU fishing and offered community-driven approaches to foster resilience, equity, and sustainability in SSFs across climate-sensitive regions. “The intersectional approach allowed us to unpack how climate and governance stressors compound gendered vulnerabilities differently across regions,” says Ayodele Oloko, PhD candidate at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and lead author.
Tackling the twin threats to SSFs through a holistic framework
The researchers synthesized 189 scholarly articles examining gender-related dimensions of climate change and IUU fishing to gain a holistic understanding of the impacts. “Framing these threats as interconnected exposes the limits of siloed interventions,” explains Oloko.
While the impacts of climate change and IUU fishing, such as forced displacement and dwindling fish stocks, threaten the well-being of people who depend on SSFs, several intersecting socioeconomic factors increase the vulnerability and hinder the adaptive capacity of women in particular. For example, women typically occupy ‘invisible’, but essential, roles in SSFs, yet they often lack economic protections or access to alternative livelihoods that might buffer against climate-induced environmental change and the systematic depletion of fish stocks.
Many women face declining incomes while shouldering the burden of maintaining household food security. In some cases, the economic fallout has pushed women into unsafe alternative work, where they are unable to access the same resources or recognition as their male counterparts. These intersecting stressors leave women with fewer options to adapt and further entrench cycles of vulnerability and inequality.
“Women, fishing, drying fish”.
Credit: AMIT ROY. Licensed under CC BY 0.
Fostering resilience to climate change and IUU
To address the gender inequity in SSFs across the world, the researchers provided adaptation strategies tailored to local contexts. “Local context allows us to centre communities’ lived experiences, especially those of women, and to design responses that reflect local realities,” explains Oloko. While structural barriers often limit women’s opportunities to adapt, they highlight that women in SSFs nonetheless play critical roles in sustaining community resilience, for example, by maintaining informal safety nets or preserving critical ecological knowledge. “If we want to effectively address threats of climate change and IUU fishing in SSFs, then we must recognize and invest in women’s capacity to lead adaptation efforts,” says Dr. Rashid Sumaila, University Killam Professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, senior author of the study.
Inclusive governance, equitable resource access, and investments in gender-disaggregated data will be essential to ensure SSFs are not only resilient in the future but also just and sustainable. “Sustainable fisheries are as much about people as they are about fish,” says Oloko. “Ultimately, resilience is not just about adapting to change but about transforming the structures that produce vulnerability in the first place.”
Credit: Keegan Checks
The study, “Gender dynamics, climate change threats and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing“, co-authored by Ayodele Oloko, Ilyass Dahmouni, Philippe Le Billon, Louise Teh, William Cheung, Astrid Sánchez-Jiménez, Ibrahim Issifu, and U. Rashid Sumaila, was published in Discover Sustainability, Volume 6, article number 494 (2025).
Tags: Africa, climate change, faculty, gender, Global South, Ibrahim Issifu, Illegal fishing, Ilyass Dahmouni, IOF postdoctoral fellows, IOF Research Associates, IOF students, IUU fishing, Louise Teh, Philippe le Billon, Rashid Sumaila, Research, small-scale fisheries, William Cheung, women, women in fishing