“The term tends to imply a simple, individual (self-employed) or family type of enterprise (as opposed to an industrial company), most often operated by the owner (even though the vessels may sometimes belong to the fishmonger or some external investor), with the support of the household. The term has no obvious reference to size but tends to have a connotation of relatively low levels of technology but this may not always be the case. In practice the definition varies between countries, from example from gleaning or a one-man canoe in poor developing countries to more than 20m trawlers, seiners or long-liners in developed ones (e.g. in Europe). Artisanal fisheries can be subsistence or commercial fisheries providing for local consumption or export.”
Definition source: Garcia, S.M. (Comp.). 2009. Glossary. In Cochrane, K. an
In this document and based on the above, both artisanal and small-scale fisheries (family-based, low machining and small size), are called as “artisanal fisheries” as opposed to “industrial fisheries” (corporate companies and large-size). We think this option is the best one to understand what we want to explain in spite of the fact that there are exemptions where corporate companies operate small fishing vessels and family-based companies
operate large fishing vessels.