The Study on Artisanal Fisheries Development in the Republic of El Salvador

The Government of El Salvador requested the Government of Japan to elaborate a Master Plan (M/P) for the development of El Salvador’s small-scale fishery sector. In 2000, IC Net was commissioned by JICA to conduct this study and carried out a series of field surveys on subjects such as the socio-economic status of fishing communities, aquaculture, fish processing and marketing, fishermen’s organizations, and the institutional reform of the Fisheries Department, Centro de Desarrollo de la Pesca y la Acuicultura (CENDEPESCA).

IC Net formulated the M/P in the first year, in which the four major undertakings (artisanal fisheries technologies; fisher’s organizational development; women’s income generation; improvement in fisheries statistics) were conducted as a pilot project from the second year onwards.

IC Net excelled in implementing sustainable and community-driven development. It facilitated many workshops, where a sense of ownership grew within the artisanal fishery folk and the officials at the Agency of Fishery Development. It also conducted pilot projects including support to organizational development and an income generation project for women in fishing villages that cost much less than other pilot projects. The latter project continued even after the end of the study.