Abstract

Some recent projects in Caribbean small-scale fisheries (SSF) have either explicitly focused on the concept of stewardship throughout their project cycle, or have implicitly incorporated this notion at various points. Yet, Caribbean fisheries authorities and fisherfolk organisations do not normally talk of stewardship in their everyday interactions. Some associate it with the Marine Stewardship Council and invoke an image of marginalisation of SSF in the competitive process of globalised eco-labelling. Others appreciate that the term can also be applied to instruments and initiatives that they favour such as the enlightenment provided by the SSF Guidelines. It seems that this potentially powerful, but sometimes abstract and misunderstood, notion needs to be further examined in the light of recent experience in project implementation. I attempt to do this by reflecting on some of the related quests in which I have been involved. Within this introspection I conclude that several facets of stewardship could be strengthened by better integration from policy to practice, since there is merit in institutionalising the concept in SSF.

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