Artisanal Fishing Score: A New Certification Method for Small-scale Fisheries

Artisanal Fishing Score: A New Certification Method for Small-scale Fisheries | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Artisanal Fishing Score: A New Certification Method for Small-scale Fisheries Marília Tenório Gouveia de Melo, Marcos Felipe Falcão Sobral, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9141037/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Small-scale fisheries can guarantee enough supply of fish production around the world with low expenditure of energy, although they operate through some constraints. Certification schemes have been printing the sustainability face in fish products, some aspects like transparency, traceability and standardization catches international suppliers attention for those products, and the communication with consumers are one of the benefits ecolabels can bring to firms. With lack of data, huge costs, and low infrastructure, certification schemes become hard to reach for small-scale fisheries, leaving the sustainability face only to large scale firms. Due to a large portion of global artisanal fishing does not reaching the so-called sustainable market because certifications are unattainable for artisanal fishermen and women, the current paper searched on developing a new certification method that corresponds to the scenario and demands of artisanal fishing, the proposed method is based on the validation of the artisanal fisherman, distinguishing them from the industrial fishing activity. Four dimensions of analysis were proposed: Operational, Boat, Crew and Nature of Activity. From the analysis of each dimension, the fishery can be classified as Industrial, Transitional Industrial, Transitional Small-Scale and Small Scale. We performed the Artisanal Fishing Score(AFS) on a artisanal fishing community and they were categorized as small-scale by the method. We could infer that this is a trustable method to be implemented in certification process to improve communication between consumers and artisanal fish producers. Small-Scale Fisheries Artisanal Fisheries Certification Ecolabel Artisanal Fishing Score Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9141037","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":614884625,"identity":"7a2247df-bf72-4ee6-a624-62ecdfd7dd89","order_by":0,"name":"Marília Tenório Gouveia de Melo","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAw8MwDTjAYYKBn4Qi5mglgQDKIPhDINkAzFaGBJgehnbiNCi23724YGEAjsG+bDDBw58nHdYwnx28wHmwj24tZidSTcAOiyZwfB2WsLBmdsOS8jcOZbAPOMZHi0H0kB+YWYwnJ1jcJh32+E6CYkcA2aeA3i0nH8G0lIP1JL/4TDvnMMSEhL5H/BruQG25TCDvHQOw2HeBpCWHAYCWsC2HOcxkE4zODjjWLqEhMwxg8Mz8DosjfnDhz/VcvKzkx8++FBjLSEh3fzwcQEeLTDAYwBXJAGKU2KAfAOSllEwCkbBKBgFyAAAFvJWbNhBimIAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Federal Rural University of Pernambuco","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marília","middleName":"Tenório Gouveia","lastName":"de Melo","suffix":""},{"id":614884630,"identity":"306fcdd4-cbc4-435a-8bd3-ed95ba966629","order_by":1,"name":"Marcos Felipe Falcão Sobral","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Federal Rural University of Pernambuco","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marcos","middleName":"Felipe Falcão","lastName":"Sobral","suffix":""},{"id":614884633,"identity":"2f002833-20f6-47f4-b81d-28946aad4688","order_by":2,"name":"Ana Regina Bezerra Ribeiro","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Federal Rural University of Pernambuco","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ana","middleName":"Regina Bezerra","lastName":"Ribeiro","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-16 18:23:48","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9141037/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9141037/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106663947,"identity":"681fb69e-2cd5-40d8-9008-314b239c56dc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-11 07:25:29","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":404686,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscriptartisanalfishingscore1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9141037/v1_covered_e12d35a7-a89a-42af-9313-773c4c1344d5.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eArtisanal Fishing Score: A New Certification Method for Small-scale Fisheries\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Small-Scale Fisheries, Artisanal Fisheries, Certification, Ecolabel, Artisanal Fishing Score","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9141037/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9141037/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSmall-scale fisheries can guarantee enough supply of fish production around the world with low expenditure of energy, although they operate through some constraints. Certification schemes have been printing the sustainability face in fish products, some aspects like transparency, traceability and standardization catches international suppliers attention for those products, and the communication with consumers are one of the benefits ecolabels can bring to firms. With lack of data, huge costs, and low infrastructure, certification schemes become hard to reach for small-scale fisheries, leaving the sustainability face only to large scale firms. Due to a large portion of global artisanal fishing does not reaching the so-called sustainable market because certifications are unattainable for artisanal fishermen and women, the current paper searched on developing a new certification method that corresponds to the scenario and demands of artisanal fishing, the proposed method is based on the validation of the artisanal fisherman, distinguishing them from the industrial fishing activity. Four dimensions of analysis were proposed: Operational, Boat, Crew and Nature of Activity. From the analysis of each dimension, the fishery can be classified as Industrial, Transitional Industrial, Transitional Small-Scale and Small Scale. We performed the Artisanal Fishing Score(AFS) on a artisanal fishing community and they were categorized as small-scale by the method. We could infer that this is a trustable method to be implemented in certification process to improve communication between consumers and artisanal fish producers.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Artisanal Fishing Score: A New Certification Method for Small-scale Fisheries","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-31 20:20:26","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9141037/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3eaa7012-ff95-458e-9668-8a6a799f78a0","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 31st, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-11T07:25:14+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-31 20:20:26","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9141037","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9141037","identity":"rs-9141037","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}