The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has released the latest edition of its popular fisheries publication – SAMUDRA Report, its triannual journal on fisheries, communities and livelihoods.
SAMUDRA Report No. 88, dated December 2022, has a special focus on the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022), with reports from several regions of how the year was celebrated as well as the ICSF Statements made at the IYAFA 2022 Asia Workshop.
The editorial Comment points to how the abiding message of IYAFA 2022 should be that the social pillar of sustainable development ought to be strengthened to protect the future of lives and livelihoods in the small-scale fisheries subsector.
A report from the United Nations Oceans Conference 2022 details how representatives of small-scale fishing communities – the most numerous ocean users –launched a Call to Action in a conerence that brought together two main protagonists: those clamouring for reforms in ocean governance to ‘Save Our Ocean’, and those clamouring for reforms to open up the ‘Blue Economy’.
The article from Taiwan says that securing the rights of migrant workers in the nation’s fisheries is an ongoing and evolving process.
Two articles from India are featured in SAMUDRA Report No. 88. The first shows how a community-based, bottom-up regime of fisheries management, rooted in traditional ecological knowledge, is practised in the pole-and-line tuna fishery of the Lakshadweep Islands. The second notes that shrimp farms in the state of Tamil Nadu have proliferated despite a 1996 Supreme Court judgement to regulate coastal aquaculture.
The SSF Guidelines form the subject of several reports. At the 35th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), according to one, small-scale fisheries and the SSF Guidelines occupied centre stage with governments and civil society reiterating their commitment to the SSF Guidelines and the IYAFA Global Action Plan.
Another report points out how the IPC people-centred methodology to assess the implementation of the SSF Guidelines is a call to action in support of small-scale fisheries.
A report from Nigeria states that a participatory, bottom-up approach will go a long way in ensuring sustainable livelihoods for communities in the small-scale fisheries sector.
Conservation of fisheries in Bangladesh, according to another article, has become heavy-handed and militarized even as poverty in fishing communities remains unmitigated.
The current issue also features an interview with marine biologist and fisheries scientist Ray Hilborn on how area-based conservation measures can be made more inclusive of sustainable fisheries.
An obituary remembers Paul Onyango, researcher of small-scale fisheries in Lake Victoria, who passed away on 10 April 2022.
A report from France explains how the 14th edition of the Pecheurs du Monde film festival in Lorient showcased the resilient cultures of fishing communities around the world.
SAMUDRA Report No. 88 can be accessed at https://demo2.icsf.net/samudra-articles.php?id=9537