Small-scale fisheries sustain coastal livelihoods, cultural heritage and local economies, yet face interconnected ecological, economic and governance challenges. In Galicia, northwestern Spain, these fisheries encompass on-foot shellfish gathering and small-vessel fishing using diverse traditional gears. Identifying suitable responses to these stressors requires combining fishers’ knowledge with scientific evidence and understanding the conditions that enable solutions to work.
We present an inventory of challenges and potential solutions developed through interviews and participatory workshops with Galician small-scale fishers. We synthesised participants’ contributions into thematic groups, encompassing potential nature-based solutions, enabling measures and complementary approaches. The current phase examines the feasibility and enabling conditions of these proposals through expert engagement and literature review.
This interactive poster invites the aquatic research community to contribute evidence and experience from other regions. Participants can select a challenge identified by Galician fishers and propose how their research could help address it, or examine a proposed solution and assess its transferability to their own region. Particular attention is given to the ecological, social and institutional conditions that could support or constrain implementation.
By connecting locally identified priorities with wider research expertise, this work aims to expand the range of available responses, identify evidence gaps and develop collaborations that support sustainable and resilient small-scale fisheries across different social–ecological contexts.