Isaacs, Moenieba2021-08-202021-08-202016Isaacs, M. (2016). Multi-stakeholder process of co-designing small-scale fisheries policy in South Africa. Regional Environmental Change, 16(2), 277–288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0874-21436-378Xhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0874-2http://hdl.handle.net/10566/6525In 2005, a group of researchers, community-based organizations and lawyers got together with small-scale fishers to launch a class action law suit against the government of South Africa in its allocation system of Individual Transferable Quotas, on the ground that the system was unfair to small-scale fishing communities and threatened their right to practise their livelihoods. This effort resulted in the cabinet adoption of a new small-scale fisheries policy in 2014, with amendments being made to fisheries law (the Marine Living Resource Act 18 of 1998) to accommodate the issues and concerns of small-scale fisheries. Draft regulations and an implementation plan have recently been released, paving the way for the implementation of small-scale fisheries allocations in 2016. These legal and policy shifts are of great significance for small-scale fisheries, both in South Africa and elsewhere, and deserve careful examination. This paper discusses the processes leading to the development of a new small-scale fisheries policy and what has followed since.enSmall-scale fisheriesPolicyCo-designingTransdisciplinarySouth AfricaArticle