Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable SmallScale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (VGSSF) The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (VGSSF) represent the first international instrument dedicated to the immensely important but often neglected sector – small scale fisheries sector. These guidelines have been developed in support to the overall principles and provisions of the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (the Code). The development of the VGSSF was initiated in 2008 during the First Global Conference on Small-Scale Fisheries in Bangkok, Thailand and it was finally endorsed at the 31st Session of Committee of Fisheries (COFI) in June 2014. The VGSSF complement other international instruments such as Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food, as well as Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests. The VGSSF have 98 provisions, covering 11 topics encompassing 3 major themes: (i) Introduction; (ii) Responsible Fisheries and Sustainable Development; and (iii) Ensuring an Enabling Environment and Supporting Implementation. Part 1, Introduction, specifies the objectives, the nature and scope, the guiding principles by which the VGSSF are to be implemented as well as their relationship with other international instruments. Part 2, Responsible Fisheries and Sustainable Development, provides guidance for fisheries-specific topics such as responsible governance of tenure and sustainable resource management, but also for crucial inter-sectoral issues: social development, employment and decent work; value chain, post-harvest and trade; gender equality; and disaster risks and climate change. Part 3, Ensuring an Enabling Environment and Supporting Implementation, provides guidance on how to realize the principles and recommendations of the VGSSF through policy coherence, institutional and supporting implementation; information, research and communication; capacity development; and implementation support and monitoring.