COVID-19 reveals vulnerability of small-scale fisheries to global market systems

Seafood consumption provides nutrients linked to reductions in malnutrition and disease for nearly half the global population.1 Almost half of the world's seafood comes from small-scale fisheries (SSFs), which also employ 90% of the world's fishers2 and provide crucial food and livelihoods in coastal communities globally. This important industry virtually collapsed in January, 2020, as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered one of the world's largest seafood markets, China. The closure of a single dominant market highlighted the growing vulnerability of SSFs to global market shocks, as many such fisheries increasingly rely on a limited number of foreign buyers rather than less lucrative domestic markets.