Ahmed Khan is the Chief Fisheries Officer and Coordinator of the Blue Economy Flagship program, part of the Feed Africa Strategy, at the African Development Bank Group. His expertise lies in fisheries economics, global seafood value chains, and coastal governance. His research outputs are available in journals such as Bioeconomics, Climate Policy, Fisheries Research, Marine Policy, MAST and Science.

Alicia Said has recently finished her post-doctoral fellow with the Too Big To Ignore group (TBTI) at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, and is now back in Europe working on Mediterranean small-scale fisheries with the Low Impact Fishers of Europe. Focusing on EU fisheries governance, her research interests include resource management, socio-economic resilience, and sustainable livelihoods in the context of small-scale and artisanal fisheries. Alicia holds a PhD from the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent (UK) and she will soon join IFREMER as a post-doctoral fellow within the UMR-AMURE in Brest, France.

Alifereti Tawake is a community advocates and a natural resource management specialist. His pioneering work starting with one district have spread to more than 470 communities that make of Fiji LMMA Network today won him the international Whitley Foundation (UK) Award for People and the Environment in 2004. His tireless support of communities throughout Fiji, Pacific and globally to better manage their land and sea was also recognized in 2015 receiving the WWF’s Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal.  Alifereti is the Council Chair of the LMMA Network International and the Technical Advisor to Fiji LMMA. 

Andrew M. Song holds broad interest in the governance and geography of small-scale fisheries. His current research focuses on trans-boundary, multi-scalar, and inter-organizational issues as they relate to community-based fisheries management, IUU fishing, and human rights based approaches. Also affiliated with WorldFish, he has worked in various inland and marine fishery settings including the Philippines, the African and Laurentian Great Lakes, Atlantic Canada, South Korea, and the Pacific islands.

Arjilli Dasu is the Executive Secretary of the DFYWA. He has 30 years of experience with DFYWA and 15 years various national and international Fishers organisations. It strongly occurred to him that organizing traditional fishing community would play a role in prevention of ecological damage in the coastal belt and empower small scale fishing community. He adopted three major strategies to conserve coastal ecology in the state, which are: sustainable innovative livelihood enhancement, networking and organizing small scale fishing community. He adapted the OXFAM modal of disaster preparedness.

Mr. Bobby is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Network Activities Group, one of the leading National NGO in Myanmar. He holds B.Sc (Forestry), M.Sc (Regional & Rural Development Planning) and one of Chevening Fellow. NAG has been active, in most part of Delta and Coastal area of Myanmar, organizing and strengthening of Fishers and Fish Workers Associations, linking with Regional Government, Member of Parliament and Department of Fishery on fishers’ rights issues and supporting Fresh Water Fishery Legal Reforms at the State and Regional as well as at Union Marine Fishery Law. Together with Fishery Associations, NAG is promoting co-management of Fishery and Wetlands Resources.  

Christopher Arthur completed a BA in Marine affairs and Management & Public Administration, 2008-2010. He started working with Fisheries Department in 2011 under a project known as 'reef check'. In November 2012, he signed a permanent contract with Vanuatu Fisheries Department as the principal resource officer in the management and policy division. His responsibility is around the area of fisheries management hence, developing policies, awareness materials and other fisheries information. Christopher Arthur provides management advices as well as managing projects within the department. He also does administrative work. At the moment, he is the acting manager for the management and policy division.

Editrudith is the founder and executive director of the Environmental Management and Economic Development Organization (EMEDO), an organization addressing environmental, social and economic challenges in the Lake Victoria region in Africa. Editrudith has been highly involved in important national and international organizations such as the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF), African Women Fish processors and Traders network (AWFISHNET), the Advisory Group of the FAO Global Strategic Framework for implementation of SSF Guidelines, and the National Technical Advisory Committee of the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project. She is currently championing the implementation of the SSF guidelines in Tanzania.

El hadji Abdoulaye holds a Masters in Applied Sciences & Engineering (Fisheries Management) from the Astrakhan State University in Russia, 1995. Abdoulaye is Certified Fishery Technician for the National Agency of Agricultural and Rural Advisory Board, having followed alongside the creation of the National Advisory Board of Trustees of Non-Industrial Fishery that represents fishermen, fish traders and fish processors in Senegal. He is also a Manager of Relations with Professional Organizations, under the Director of Maritime Fisheries in Non-Industrial Fisheries; and Secretary of the National Consulate for the implementation of international guidelines.

Fisheries Engineer from Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco- UFRPE and got his Master, M.Sc. and Doctor, D.Sc. degrees in Marine Science and Technology/ Fisheries Oceanography, from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. He did a post-doc in stock assessment of pelagic and highly migratory fisheries resources and a specialization course on International Law of the Sea (2010), at Rhodes Academy (Center for Oceans Law and Policy/ University of Virginia School of Law; the Aegean Institute of the Law of the Sea and Maritime Law; the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland; the Max Planck Institute; and the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea). Presently he is Full Professor at UFRPE.

Gaoussou Gueye has more than 30 years of experience in the Senegalese artisanal fishing sector, 10 years of experience in Africa, and 10 years of experience in industrial fishing. He is the President of the African Confederation of Professional Organizations for Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA) and the Non State Actors Platform for the Fishing and Aquaculture Sector in West Africa (PANEPAO). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI).

Hary Christijanto started his career in 1994 at the Fishing Vessel Development Division. In the followed years, he joined several divisions such as Fishing Technical Development Center, Management Fisheries Resources in Territorial, Archipelagic and Inland Water Divisions, up to be the Head of Legal Division in DGCF. Hary Christijanto works as a Fisheries Inspector with a responsibility in dealing with fisheries data and information to support fisheries policy and management decision making at the Directorate General of Capture Fisheries (DGCF) - Ministry of Marine Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.

Programme Officer for Oak’s Global Small-Scale Fisheries Sub-programme. She has led grant-making efforts focused on sustainable small-scale fisheries management, marine protected areas, reef resiliency, capacity building, research and monitoring, policy and advocacy, international governance, financing for biodiversity protection, indigenous peoples land rights and community-based conservation. She has served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Belize and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Biodiversity Funders Group, a learning network for over 70 foundations collaborating on biodiversity conservation issues.

John Kurien has a background in statistics, business management and a Ph.D in social sciences. After a short stint in industry, he lived and worked in a small fishing village in Kerala State, India to help small-scale fishers to organize their cooperative. This work spread with the help of those trained from the villages. He then moved to the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India but continued to be an activist-researcher. From 2005 he retired as Professor from the Centre for Development Studies and is now Visiting Professor at the Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India,  where he offers a course on Coastal Zone Livelihoods and Sustainable Management for MA (Development) students.  He continues his involvement with Community Fisheries initiatives in Cambodia and more recently in Myanmar. His interests include natural resources management, issues in common property resource management, collective action and rural organisations and development issues with special reference to aquatic eco-systems and fishing communities. His informal association with World Fish goes back to the late 1970s. 

Jorge is the General Director (2007), and co-founder of Comunidad y Biodiversidad, A.C. (COBI, 1999), a non-governmental organization that focuses on marine biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries through effective participatory approaches. He obtained his PhD from the University of Arizona (2002). Jorge has been working in marine conservation and sustainable fisheries in Mexico since 1988. His research has been based on generating practical answers to marine conservation and unsustainable fisheries problems combining biophysical, socioeconomic, and governance information. At the UN Our Oceans 2016 conference he presented COBI's capacity building program for fishers and cooperatives model as part of the Sustainable Fisheries panel.

Ms. Ibengwe career in Fisheries Management began 10 years ago at the Ministry, under different capacities. Her education background includes MSc. In Environmental Management and BSc. (Honors) In Marine Biology both from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. She also attended advanced training and research in the field of Fisheries Policy and Planning from the United Nations University Fisheries and Training Programme (UNU-FTP) Iceland, Advanced Lessons in Fisheries and Aquaculture Economics in the International University Menendez Pelayo (UIMP) Spain and Fisheries Governance for Food Security from The Netherlands. Ms. Ibengwe is a Focal Point of Global Strategy Framework – Friends of Small Scale Fisheries in Tanzania. She is currently pursuing a Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Fish Trade and its Policies.

Linda Behnken has BA from Dartmouth College and a Masters in Environmental Science from Yale University.  She has been a commercial fisherman in Alaska since 1982, and currently fishes with her spouse and their two sons on their 38-foot boat WOODSTOCK. Linda helped launch the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, which invests in fishing access opportunities for community-based fishermen committed to sustainable fishing practices, and Alaskan’s Own, the first Community Supported Fisheries program in Alaska.  In 2016 Linda was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for Sustainable Seafood by President Obama.

María José Barragán-Paladines obtained a PhD in Geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada. Her undergraduate and master’s research at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) focused on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and marine wildlife management. Her PhD research employed the interactive governance approach, with a specific focus on MPAs, examining the governability of the Galapagos Marine Reserve. She collaborates with TBTI and is a post-doctoral researcher in the “Development and Knowledge Sociology” at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research in Bremen, Germany. Her research interests include small-scale fisheries sustainability, fishing community viability, food security from the marine perspective, and marine resource governance.

He received his PhD from the University of Bremen in Germany. His PhD research contextualized poverty and vulnerability in the livelihoods of coastal fishing communities in Bangladesh. His research interests include the migration trajectories of small-scale fishers, management, and conservation of hilsa fisheries, climate change impacts, livelihoods, and well-being analysis of small-scale fishers. He is currently involved in studies related to the establishment of co-management in hilsa sanctuaries of Bangladesh.

Nicole Franz holds a Masters’ degree in International Cooperation and Project Design from the University La Sapienza, Rome, as well as a Masters’ in Economic and Cultural Cooperation and Human Rights in the Mediterranean Region. She started her career as a fisheries consultant with FAO, contributing to the publication ‘The Sunken Billions’. Since 2011, Nicole has been a Fishery Planning Analyst at FAO. Since 2013, she has coordinated FAO’s support in relation to the implementation of the SSF Guidelines. She has an interest in policy processes, stakeholder empowerment, and the promotion of the human rights based approach in fisheries.

Nigel Martinez, son of a fisherman, was born and raised in Belize City. Fell in love with conservation while working for an NGO. Continued his passion for accounting working for the Belize Airport Authority, while overseeing the executive functions in his spare time for the Belize Federation of Fishers(BFF). He oversees the Fishermen and Ecotourism Alliance (FETA) protecting essential habitats for eco-tourism and a healthy commercial fishery. Nigel notes... “It is a pleasure to be able to dedicate my time and energy to the Fishermen of Belize and the habitat they and so many other Belizean rely on.”

Philippa Cohen is a scientist at WorldFish, and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University. Philippa’s research examines governance of small-scale fisheries and Aquatic Agricultural Systems for improving food security and development outcomes in Pacific Island developing countries. Her research has concentrated on community-based fisheries management – from local scale governance processes and fisheries outcomes, to cross-scale interactions through national to regional policies and governance networks. Philippa has carried out empirical research and worked in applied fisheries management in Australia, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Timor L’este.

Ratana Chuenpagdee is a professor at the Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada. She held the position of a Canada Research Chair in Natural Resource Sustainability and Community Development at Memorial University from 2006 to 2016. Her research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to coastal, fisheries, and ocean governance, focusing particularly on small-scale fisheries, marine protected areas, community-based management, and food security. Dr. Chuenpagdee is a director of the Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries Research and one of the editors of the 2017 book ‘The Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines: Global Implementation’.

Rodolphe Devillers is Professor of Geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), Canada. Rodolphe leads the Marine Geomatics Research Lab, an interdisciplinary group exploring research questions related to the use of GIS and spatial analysis for improving our understanding of marine environments. Some of his more applied research looks at seabed mapping, benthic habitat mapping, conservation planning and deep-sea coral ecology. Other more theoretical research includes the use of spatial statistical methods for marine environmental modelling, the development of 3D marine data structures, the improvement of geovisualization tools for supporting maritime decision-making and the crowdsourcing of geographic data.

Sebastian Mathew has been working with the ICSF since 1991. On behalf of ICSF, he had been involved in various civil society initiatives and UN, FAO, ILO meetings, together with ICSF members and colleagues. He would like to see fishing communities, including women and indigenous peoples, influencing decision-making related to conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources and decent work at national, regional and international levels, especially to promote small-scale fisheries, and to transform lives and livelihoods.  The SSF Guidelines and the ILO Work in Fishing Convention, he believes, are effective instruments to assist this process.

Svein Jentoft is a sociologist and a Professor. Throughout his career, he has worked extensively on fisheries and coastal issues, including resource management, industrial organization and community development in his native Norway, as well as in many other countries. Jentoft has published more than 25 books and numerous journal articles on fisheries and coastal governance. He is a founding member and cluster leader within the Too Big To Ignore small-scale fisheries research partnership. His most recent book - ‘The Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines: Global Implementation’ - co-edited with R. Chuenpagdee, M. J. Barragán-Paladines and N. Franz, was published by Springer in 2017.

Vivienne Solis Rivera has oriented her professional work towards the community-based management of natural resources, protected areas governance and local communities’ participation in conservation with an especial interest in marine ecosystems and gender.  In the last years, she has worked on the promotion of community-base and shared governance models for the management of sea resources. She has promoted civil participation in policy-making that responds to the strengthening of a human based rights approach to marine conservation. She is also a member of ICSF and honorary member of the Indigenous People and Local Communities Conserved Areas Consortium (ICCA Consortium).