Editorial Unimagdalena

Description in English: Worldwide, fishing activity experiences the cascading effects of negative impacts such as overexploitation, environmental degradation and climate change. Because it is an activity not only of economic but also of sociocultural interest, it is urgent to initiate actions to avoid the shortage of resources and the disappearance of such activity. Given the complexity of the fishing sector and the multiple stakeholders that make it up, the responsibility of carrying out immediate actions must be confronted from a collective approach. Where the fisheries management of these actions with a participatory approach becomes an alternative to confront the problems of fishing and develop planned and efficient solutions, which will benefit not only the fishing resources but also their ecosystems and users. This book/guide has been built to generate an input of support in the country to face the challenges around fisheries management, it corresponds to the framework of the guidelines established by the Autoridad Nacional de Acuicultura y Pesca - AUNAP [National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority – NAFA] (through Resolution 586 of 2019). It also offers a conceptual and methodological framework for fisheries management in Colombia, based on the lessons learned by the Research Group on Socioecological Systems for Human Well-being (GISSBH as its abbreviation in Spanish) of the Universidad del Magdalena throughout its collaborative work in participatory research with fishing communities and the AUNAP, during the last 15 years. This book/guide is not intended to be a strict recipe of the steps to follow, but rather it seeks to be an adaptive tool to the context and needs of each territory. Four case studies are included, as example of participatory fisheries management processes in the country. We hope that this work will be useful for fishing communities, decision makers, academia, researchers, non-governmental organizations, civil society, and for all those who wish to work in favor of the country´s fishing sector. It is expected that the present instrument will generate fairer and more efficient management processes in the future, those that will strengthen fisheries governance in the country, based on a broad articulation between stakeholders, with a constant learning to promote the implementation of good practices for the sustainability of the fishing activity and to improve the quality of life of the people depending on it.