The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aspire to “leave no one behind”. However, an important and culturally diverse group of economic actors and resource stewards—the global population of small-scale fishers and fishworkers—are currently lagging behind because their contributions to society remain obscure and are frequently overlooked. SSF are diverse and elusive in definition but generally include pre-harvest, near-shore harvest and post-harvest activities using low-technology, low-capital and labour-intensive practices. Wild-capture SSF in inland and marine waters is the most important food production system based on non-cultivated natural resources, but this small-scale subsector is often not recognized in agricultural, development and nutrition policy. Despite having a dedicated SDG target (goal 14b) aimed at securing their access to (marine) fishery resources and markets, small-scale fisherfolk were excluded, for example, from OECD blue-economy employment statistics because their numbers were judged too difficult to estimate.