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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy

Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2025

Blue Social Protection Handbook: Protecting People, Fish and Food

Global Food and Nutrition Security

This Handbook is for practitioners working in the social protection or fisheries sectors searching for innovative ways to promote sustainable fisheries and reduce human vulnerability. Amid a global decline in fish stocks, countries face challenges in reforming policies and implementing fisheries management measures that tend to impose short- to medium-term socioeconomic costs on fisheries workers. Given their role in managing risks through protecting people against shocks and transitions, as well as promoting better job opportunities, Social Protection and Jobs (SPJ) interventions have untapped potential to facilitate difficult fisheries reforms and management measures to promote sustainable and productive fisheries, with benefits for nature, climate, and people—including provision of food and nutrition. Focusing on the role of SPJ in the small-scale fisheries (SSF) sector, the Handbook offers practical knowledge to advance this agenda at the country level. It summarizes key concepts, challenges, and opportunities for SPJ to support productive and sustainable fisheries, how to collect and analyze data required to leverage these opportunities, and priorities moving forward.