With a gasera (gas lamp) on hand, Santo heads out to the sea in his small motor banca at 2 in the morning.
Just as the sun is rising, he comes back ashore, his net full of catch of all the fish that his wife is going to sell in the nearby local market.
As soon as his wife is done, he stores away the net back in his boat and heads back to the sea for at least two more fishing trips until mid-afternoon.
Each time, 200 bancas from Santo’s village would return with 100 kilos of catch that could fill several boxes of coolers: tuna, chub mackerel, herrings, red snapper, and moonfish and other variety of fish that they would catch abundantly in seasons.
Santo's family, like other fisherfolk in his village, relies mainly on fishing for their livelihood.
Santo, a resident of a coastal village of Silonay in Calapan City, Philippines, now 73 years old, can only look back on those days with disbelief as he checks a handful of fish caught in his net.
These days, even on a good day, the fishermen of Silonay could only net around 20 kilos of fish. There are also only some 50 fishing motorized bancas left in his village, and their sons are not showing signs of taking up after their fathers' work as the once steady source of livelihood no longer holds attraction for them.
The fisherfolk of Silonay are some of the 60 million people dependent on small-scale fishing around the globe. More significantly, they are among the over 2 million people benefitting from the resources and livelihood from the Verde Island Passage — a recognized epicenter of global shore-fish biodiversity and integral part of the Coral Triangle which is home to over 1,700 species of fish, 300 species of corals, and thousands of other marine species.
Verde Island Passage’s highly productive ecosystem, however, is not spared from the immense pressure due to pollution, unsustainable land use and irresponsible tourism, illegal and destructive fishing practices, and climate change.
The dwindling fish catch of Silonay fishermen may be a banner for the realities and state of marine ecosystem in the Verde Island Passage, and the shrinking traditional fishing a telltale sign.
Helping small-scale or artisanal fishers get at the root of their dwindling catch and address systematically the challenges and threats to their fishing would prove to be a better route to ensure food sustainability and the economy not only of the host country but of the world.
Around 600 million livelihoods rely on fisheries and aquaculture, including an estimated 60 million people employed part- or full-time in small-scale fisheries.
Source: The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2022
Compared to big commercial fishing boats dropping trawling nets that harm marine creatures and environment, smaller-scale fisheries are known for their catch methods using hooks and line or laying traps for their haul with minimal impact on the surrounding environment.
Most small-scale fishermen though like Santo would not even know where to start to address such a threat to his traditional fishing, largely compounded by his unawareness to the possible solutions and access to the necessary technology or organization to overturn the situation.
UNDP aims to address these overlooked concerns “by identifying innovative approaches to ocean restoration and protection – helping to boost livelihoods and advance the blue economy,” stated Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.
“Small-scale fishers don’t have the latest technology, much needed finance, and access to international markets. UNDP aims to address this gap by identifying innovative approaches to ocean restoration and protection – helping to boost livelihoods and advance the blue economy.”
— Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.
If Santo and his fellow small-scale or artisanal fisherfolk were to organize themselves into a cooperative for better organization and strength in numbers, they would be helped greatly, for example, by a project being introduced by one of the second cohort of UNDP Ocean Innovators called the SmartFish Rescate de Valor AC or the “SmartFish’s Value Rescue Model or VRM.”
SmartFish VRM is an innovative, collaborative process that works across the seafood value chain. It links small-scale fisher cooperatives in Mexico that adopt or maintain sustainable fishing practices to better-paying markets that not only value premium quality seafood but also sustainable practice. Fishers engaging in the VRM are targeted to earn more while fishing more sustainably with the same or less volume.
About 21 percent of those employed in fisheries and aquaculture are women with various roles in the pre- and post-harvest value chain. According to SOFIA 2022, women tend to have more unstable employment in aquaculture and fisheries.
The wives of these Silonay fishermen can also be inspired to look into the story of the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF) Maldives, possibly replicating how it is connecting women fisherfolk in Gemanafushi to an exclusive digital market platform to let them account for their own production and sales data, receive payments directly without a middleman, and conduct financial transactions online, build credit histories and access financial tools.
The project is also enhancing transparency and traceability in the fisheries value chain and give consumers access to product information – one could even know the woman who processed the fish product, the island it originated from, and potentially even the vessel and type of fishing gear that was used to catch the fish.
With such coordinated actions and the thrust on sustainable fishing gaining ground, the fisherfolk of Santo's village, including the women, may soon be enjoying back the days when their nets are sparkling with the freshest catch the next time they set out for the sea.
The year 2022 was declared by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture in recognition of the significant role of small-scale fishers, fish farmers and fish workers in providing healthy and nutritious food to billions of people.
To know more about UNDP's second cohort of ocean innovators on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture: https://oceaninnovationchallenge.org/oceaninnovators-cohort2
© 2026 UNDP Water and Ocean Programme
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