Lobster Diver
This pledge is not about putting fishers out of work. This is especially important in the remote villages where men are currently employed by industrial dive boats and currently have few alternative forms of income.
The pledge is part of an integrated solution to help small scale fishers develop sustainable fisheries and connect to secure market chains for their products. This will help rural communities benefit directly from the richness of local marine resources.
Instead this commitment is about supporting a transition to safe fishing practices and helping to secure sustainable fisheries that are ecologically and socially viable.
Ensuring that fishers in rural communities have areas they can fish without having to use SCUBA equipment and without competing with larger industrial boats is essential to achieve the goal of sustainable fisheries and rural development.
This proposal does not impact the lobster trap boats which generally set their fishing gear in deeper water further off shore on the outer fishing banks.