The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has just published the latest issue of SAMUDRA Report, its triannual journal on fisheries, communities and livelihoods. The current edition, SAMUDRA Report No. 86, dated November 2021, features a range of articles from Africa, Asia and South America, specifically from Ghana, Kenya, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Chile. The issue also carries an analysis of the Blue Economy and small-scale fisheries, as well as articles on the UN Food Systems Summit. An obituary notice celebrates the life of Brazilian fisheries engineer and researcher Fábio Hissa Vieira Hazin, who succumbed to COVID-19 on 8 June 2021, World Oceans Day.
The editorial Comment in SAMUDRA Report No. 86 argues that negotiations on subsidies at the World Trade Organization (WTO) should lead to an agreement whose primary goal is transparency and universality in fisheries conservation and management measures.
The first article in the current issue reports on how fishers in Thailand have formed the Fishers Rights network to collectively demand better wages and working conditions to prevent labour and human-rights abuses.
The growing global opposition to destructive salmon farming has found vocal expression in
Chile and Argentina, highlighting issues related to labour and working conditions, points out another article.
In an interview, Mike Abaka-Edu, President of the Western Region branch of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC), makes a compelling case for banning the illegal practice of ‘saiko’ fishing.
From the Philippines comes a report on the lived experiences of women fisherfolk during the COVID-19 pandemic, which reveal how invisible they remain in official policies and programmes.
Aquaculture is the subject of the article from Kenya, which points out that for better nutrition outcomes, national fisheries and food policies should include aquaculture in developing positive attitudes towards consumption of value-added fish products.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional challenge for the social-ecological resilience of the
fisheries of Pulicat, India’s second largest lagoon, states another article, while from neighbouring Bangladesh comes a report on how its unique geography makes it extremely vulnerable to climate change, which calls for appropriate tools and strategies to combat and mitigate the attendant negative impacts.
The UN Food Systems Summit is the focus of two articles in SAMUDRA Report No. 86. One reports on how the opposition to the Summit finds expression in a counter-mobilization event in July 2021 that united social movements, indigenous peoples and civil society organizations, reports another piece.
Continuing on the subject of food, a Global Virtual Rally highlighted the critical role fisheries play in food security and nutrition as demonstrated by a ‘counter mobilization’ to transform corporate food systems, according to another report in the journal.
Control over the language of the Blue Economy is critical if people in small-scale fisheries wish to make it work for them and avoid a rhetoric that leads to further marginalization.
A Statement from the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) reiterates that World Fisheries Day is a time to reiterate the rights of small-scale fisherfolk and Indigenous
Peoples to secure food sovereignty.
The Roundup section of SAMUDRA Report No. 86 carries news snippets, event announcements, briefings on fishery-related matters, and more.
SAMUDRA Report No. 86 can be accessed at:
https://demo2.icsf.net/images/samudra/pdf/english/issue_86/282_Samudr_86_ICSF_November2021.pdf
ICSF is an international NGO that works towards the establishment of equitable, gender-just,self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector.
For more, please visit demo2.icsf.net