GCRF_NF516 Increasing resilience in fishing communities to impacts of COVID-19 in northern Peru

Peru is one the world's worst COVID affected countries. Gaps in social welfare, poor infrastucture and living conditions and high levels of informal employment exacerbate the impact of this disease. Artisanal fisheries are an important and overlooked activity which provides employment and basic nutrition for some of the poorest in rural areas. Thousands of jobs in the seadood supply chain are affected by the pandemic. In the Piura region, the impact on fishing communities is expected to be higher due to the large number of people involved in fisheries-dependent activities and the lack of alternative economic opportunities. There has been no systematic effort to document the impact of COVID on these communities. The Regional Government has identified a need for this information in order to respond with appropiate social welfare measures and is leading an Inter-Agency Consortium (IAC) to re-establish artisanal fisheries activities. This project will support the IAC by collecting and disseminating data on the impact of COVID in fishing communities. It will assess key fisheries, rigorously estimate the impact of the pandemic througout the supply chain and look at the way that this has, or needs to adapt to become more resilient. Throught the timely provision of relevant socio-economic information through a virtual online platform, this project will support decision-making by fishers, government and society in general, By engaging stakeholders in affected communities the project will develop recommendations for a sustained re-activation of fishing and associated activities.