Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
November 2024

A Global Assessment of Preferential Access Areas for Small-Scale Fisheries

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We provide the first global assessment of the status of preferential access areas (PAAs), a relatively understudied policy tool to govern small-scale fisheries. We find 44 countries, most of them of low or low-middle income, have established a total of 63 PAAs encompassing 3% of continental shelf area worldwide. The analysis of an ad-hoc subsample of 12 countries in 3 continents for which data were available (2016–2017) revealed that PAAs supported greater amounts of small-scale fisheries marine catch volume, landed value, fishing for self-consumption, and more nutritious species than marine areas outside PAAs. This preliminary assessment suggests that if appropriately enforced through shared governance with fishers and responsible fishing practices, relatively small areas of the ocean could provide important nutrition security, economic, and employment benefits to millions of people living in coastal areas. We offer an agenda for future research and policy action based on our findings.