Livelihood Diversification In Coastal and Inland Fishing Communities: Misconceptions, Evidence and Implications for Fisheries Management

This is the working paper regarding the Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme (SFLP). Diversification is a process by which households engage in multiple income generating activities. It is widely seen in the academic literature and international development arena as a strategy for spreading risk and reducing vulnerability. The formulation of policies promoting diversification is thus encouraged at national levels to alleviate poverty. However, such policies involve delicate choices and trade-offs between government objectives of development, e.g. intensification of agriculture and increase in agricultural outputs to satisfy export markets, versus increased household well-being and resilience to adversity through the promotion of small-scale, household-based, activities. In the context of fisheries, diversification is promoted as a means for reducing dependence on the resource, making restrictive management easier and less controversial for those affected by such measures. This often interprets diversification as job-substitution (stop fishing, do something else) rather than adding other activities to an income-portfolio. With the tendency for increasing pressure on fishery resources, it becomes ever more necessary to address in a coherent way diversification and its links with both poverty reduction and responsible fisheries. Implications of the development of alternative or complementary activities alongside a main, resource-dependent activity such as fishing, may echo those experienced by sectors such as agriculture and pastoralism. However, many characteristics of the fishing activity and of those who engage in it are particular to the sector. General poverty alleviation policies and fisheries management schemes have been found to lack the necessary differentiation and to fail to cater for the specific needs of fishing communities (Smith et al. 2005). The lack of attention -- or misplaced attention through maladapted policies -- that the sector and the communities it supports have received so far can be traced to a number of misconceptions stemming from "the old paradigm on poverty in small-scale fisheries" (Béné, 2003, p950). These assumptions include that (after Béné 2003, Allison and Ellis 2001): -- Fishing is an ingrained activity in fishing communities and fishermen will not leave fishing for cultural reasons. -- Fishermen are specialised and carry out fishing on a professional basis only. -- Fishing is a last resort activity and fishermen are unable to diversify into other income-generating activities. -- Fisheries development and development of fishing communities is not possible without increasing fishing effort. -- Livelihood diversification in fishing communities cannot go hand in hand with a sustainable natural resources management that encompasses both sustainable fisheries management and poverty alleviation. It is the aim of this paper to challenge these assumptions. Because of its linkages with resource management, looking at diversification in fishing communities involves re-exploring the issue from a different perspective than its current interpretation and most widely-encountered application to agricultural (land-based)-livelihoods. Despite the potential broad remit of this task, the objective here is to remain focused on the necessity to dispel misconceptions and show the need to formulate policies that support the engagement of fisherfolk and their families in multiple activities. By doing so, the paper shall also provide a compilation and review of available information related to diversification in fishing communities and point out the complexity of the issue of diversification in these communities. The geographical scope of the paper is global, guided by the availability of case study material, though reference to the West African experiences of the Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme (SFLP) is made wherever possible. Unless expressed otherwise, the terms 'fisheries' or 'fishers' make implicit reference to artisanal fisheries and the small-scale operations and modus operandi of those relying on them

Human Rights and Property Rights: Strategies for Addressing Both Millennium Development Goals and Responsible Fishing in Small-Scale Fisheries in West and Central Africa

In many low and middle income countries vulnerability and social exclusion of fisherfolk are major contributors to the 'uncertain environment' in which fisheries are to be rebuilt. Rights-based approaches are seen as essential to rebuilding fisheries by reducing the uncertainty in current fishery access and ownership regimes. This paper argues that reducing uncertainty in property rights and regulatory institutions is a necessary but insufficient condition for rebuilding fisheries. When fisherfolk face so many other uncertainties, including those resulting from a lack of basic human rights, they lack the incentives and capacity to claim and defend rights to fish stocks when these are granted through, for example, co-management arrangements. With the majority of the world's fish production, fisherfolk and fish consumers all originating from low and middle-income countries, there is a need for fishery governance to maintain or enhance the contribution that fisheries make to poverty reduction by addressing fisherfolks' human rights as well as regulating their rights of access to resources. This paper also serves to introduce three contributions from the DFID/FAO Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme in West and Central Africa that indicate ways in which strengthening fisherfolk's livelihoods, human and property rights can improve fishery governance and help enhance fisheries' contribution to poverty reduction

Segurança alimentar e pesca artesanal: análise crítica de iniciativas na América Latina

The importance of food security is frequently mentioned in small-scale fisheries policies, but it is seldom articulated as an explicit objective. We propose to approach fisheries as a food system, and by doing so, we seek to contribute to governance processes which integrate poverty reduction, sustainability and development. This paper aims to analyse current discourse and practice in artisanal fisheries, from the perspective of food security and with a specific focus on Latin America. We applied systematic review of secondary data and a detailed survey of initiatives led primarily by the civil society in fisheries, marine conservation and coastal development. We demonstrated a striking divergence between project planning and implementation. Several initiatives which had food security and poverty reduction among their objectives (n=60 in the global sample, nine of which in Latin America) were identified. In spite of reasons for optimism, we observed that interventions which adopted food security in a simplistic manner, or purely at the level of discourse, were predominant. We propose the discussion of mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation which demonstrate the effectiveness of fisheries management and development initiatives in securing the access to resources and their nutritional benefits to fisheries-dependent populations.A importância da segurança alimentar é frequentemente mencionada em políticas públicas focadas na pesca artesanal, mas raramente é articulada como objetivo específico. Propõe-se neste artigo abordar a pesca como sistema alimentar e, assim, contribuir para um processo de governança que integre redução da pobreza, sustentabilidade e desenvolvimento humano. Este artigo busca analisar as práticas atuais de governança da pesca artesanal, sob o prisma da segurança alimentar e com foco específico na América Latina. Utilizou-se revisão sistemática dos dados secundários e levantamento detalhado de projetos liderados predominantemente pela sociedade civil em pesca, conservação marinha e desenvolvimento costeiro. Demonstrou-se uma marcada divergência entre planejamento e execução de projetos. Foram identificadas diversas iniciativas que afirmaram ter a segurança alimentar e redução da pobreza entre seus objetivos (n=60 na amostra global, nove das quais na América Latina). Apesar de haver razão para otimismo, nota-se que predominam iniciativas que adotam a segurança alimentar de forma simplista, ou puramente conceitual. Propõe-se a discussão de mecanismos de avaliação e monitoramento que demonstrem quão efetivas são iniciativas de gestão e desenvolvimento pesqueiro em assegurar o acesso ao pescado e seus benefícios nutricionais para populações dependentes da pesca artesanal

The Human Relationship with Our Ocean Planet

This paper applies a historical lens to illustrate the differing economic, legal, institutional, social and cultural relationships people of varying cultures have with the ocean. Focusing on the institutions that affect access and rights, this paper addresses concerns about the appropriation of marine resources and displacement of indigenous visions for ocean governance by identifying ways these culturally distinct institutions are compatible and charting a path toward inclusive ocean governance

Fluctuating Fisheries in Africa's Inland Waters: Well Adapted Livelihoods, Maladapted Management

This paper evaluates evidence that fish stocks in Africa's inland waters are climate-driven and cannot be stabilized by conventional fisheries management measures. We draw on published material and our own recent and on-going research in Lake Chad and the East African Great Lakes area to propose that fisherfolk's livelihood strategies are well adapted to both seasonal and inter-annual climate-induced fluctuations. We argue that current State-led fisheries management fails to recognize the significance of these climate-induced fluctuations, and the nature and rationality of fisherfolk's' responses to them. State management therefore potentially or actually undermines the strategies that fisherfolk have evolved to both cope with and benefit from fluctuating resource availability. We conclude with a discussion of how management could adapt to support, rather than hinder, fisherfolk's adaptations to the fluctuating resource base, and how such management needs to be based on a fuller understanding of fisherfolk's livelihood systems.Keywords: Africa, Inland Fisheries, Fisheries Management, Sustainable Development, Livelihoods

Response and Resistance to Paradox-Breaking BRAF Inhibitor in Melanomas

FDA-approved BRAF inhibitors produce high response rates and improve overall survival in patients with BRAF V600E/K-mutant melanoma, but are linked to pathologies associated with paradoxical ERK1/2 activation in wild-type BRAF cells. To overcome this limitation, a next-generation paradox-breaking RAF inhibitor (PLX8394) has been designed. Here, we show that by using a quantitative reporter assay, PLX8394 rapidly suppressed ERK1/2 reporter activity and growth of mutant BRAF melanoma xenografts. Ex vivo treatment of xenografts and use of a patient-derived explant system (PDeX) revealed that PLX8394 suppressed ERK1/2 signaling and elicited apoptosis more effectively than the FDA-approved BRAF inhibitor, vemurafenib. Furthermore, PLX8394 was efficacious against vemurafenibresistant BRAF splice variant-expressing tumors and reduced splice variant homodimerization. Importantly, PLX8394 did not induce paradoxical activation of ERK1/2 in wild-type BRAF cell lines or PDeX. Continued in vivo dosing of xenografts with PLX8394 led to the development of acquired resistance via ERK1/2 reactivation through heterogeneous mechanisms; however, resistant cells were found to have differential sensitivity to ERK1/2 inhibitor. These findings highlight the efficacy of a paradox-breaking selective BRAF inhibitor and the use of PDeX system to test the efficacy of therapeutic agents. © 2017 American Association for Cancer Research

The role of seafood in sustainable diets

Recent discussions of healthy and sustainable diets encourage increased consumption of plants and decreased consumption of animal-source foods (ASFs) for both human and environmental health. Seafood is often peripheral in these discussions. This paper examines the relative environmental costs of sourcing key nutrients from different kinds of seafood, other ASFs, and a range of plant-based foods. We linked a nutrient richness index for different foods to life cycle assessments of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the production of these foods to evaluate nutritional benefits relative to this key indicator of environmental impacts. The lowest GHG emissions to meet average nutrient requirement values were found in grains, tubers, roots, seeds, wild-caught small pelagic fish, farmed carp and bivalve shellfish. The highest GHG emissions per nutrient supply are in beef, lamb, wild-caught prawns, farmed crustaceans, and pork. Among ASFs, some fish and shellfish have GHG emissions at least as low as plants and merit inclusion in food systems policymaking for their potential to support a healthy, sustainable diet. However, other aquatic species and production methods deliver nutrition to diets at environmental costs at least as high as land-based meat production. It is important to disaggregate seafood by species and production method in 'planetary health diet' advice

Making Fisheries Co-management Work for Both Poverty Reduction and Responsible Fisheries: Lessons from Coastal and Inland Waters of West and Central Africa

Fisheries co-management is the institutional model of choice to maintain and rebuild fishery resources in the small-scale sector. This paper argues that the transfer of regulatory and property rights from the central state to multi-stakeholder bodies, including resource users, and local government, can only achieve sectoral efficiency goals - such as maximising wealth generated from fisheries or other socially desirable optima - if they are accompanied by efforts to address the vulnerability and social exclusion of the new rights-holders and decision-makers. Case studies from West and Central African countries are presented to indicate how resource rebuilding and poverty reduction are addressed jointly by strengthening both co-management systems and the livelihoods of fishery resource users

Well-Being and Fishery Governance

This paper provides summaries of presentations at a special session of IIFET 2012 that explored the potential value of a ‘wellbeing’ approach in small-scale fisheries, drawing on insights from the Governing Small-Scale Fisheries for Wellbeing and Resilience project. The research aimed to apply wellbeing concepts to both better understand fishery values and dynamics, and to improve fisheries management and governance. Wellbeing provides a framework to broaden the analysis of fisheries by addressing the three complementary elements of material, relational and subjective wellbeing, to properly consider the full range of values and objectives in fisheries, and to more comprehensively assess policy alternatives. The paper introduces the idea of wellbeing, then focuses on four themes: (1) the extent to which a wellbeing lens provides a more comprehensive way to approach concerns about poverty, livelihoods and vulnerability in small-scale fisheries; (2) how a wellbeing lens connects to a social-ecological systems perspective, and to analyses of resilience within a fisheries context; (3) how adoption of wellbeing perspectives can contribute to fishery governance thinking, and inform the implementation of fisheries management instruments, and (4) how a wellbeing lens can be applied in specific fisheries, through small-scale fishery case studies from South Africa