A better future: prospects for small-scale fishing people

Before one can begin to create a better future for small-scale fisheries and those who depend on them, one would first need to imagine it. What scenarios are likely and which are preferable to others? One would also need to think about how to get from where small-scale fisheries are now, to where we want them to be. What governance initiatives would be needed? What is more urgent? What should happen first? This final chapter synthesizes the lessons for policy and governance that can be drawn from the case studies that have been presented in this volume. All PovFish participants were invited to submit their own views about what the key messages from their contributions are and what others should learn from them. The chapter builds on their ideas and propositions, and includes excerpts from what they formulated. It also brings back some of the theoretical issues that were discussed in Part 1 - Positioning.