On the role of consulting in fisheries development

Fisheries development programmes should explicitly build capacity of local and regional consultants. These consultants should be integral components of strategies to make efficient use of expertise. Their importance as a source of expertise will increase as small fisheries departments reorient towards people-based approaches to management. They are presently undervalued and underdeveloped for several reasons, such as donor country preferences for using their own nationals and lack of support within their own countries and regions, often due to misconceptions regarding what is involved in being a self-employed consultant.