The purpose of this book is to encourage countries to take the required steps in appraising the extent to which the current fisheries legislation and policies are applicable for small-scale fisheries governance, and in expanding this analysis to other instruments that are not fisheries-specific, but which also provide fundamental rights and duties of small-scale fishers, including the countries’ Constitutions. Such steps can begin with an evaluation of relevant legal and policy instruments against the principles and recommendations of the SSF Guidelines, on the basis of which it is possible to determine what needs to be done to facilitate and ensure the SSF Guidelines implementation for sustainable small-scale fisheries
