Poverty reduction strategy papers and the fisheries sector: an opportunity forgone?

This article examines the extent to which the fisheries sector has been mainstreamed into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) published by fifty nations by the end of 2003. Applying content analysis techniques we find that there is little overt relationship between the extent of such mainstreaming and the significance of the sector (as either a contributor to food security, a generator of foreign exchange, a provider of employment or as a refuge of the poor). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Not by rent alone: Analysing the pro-poor functions of small-scale fisheries in developing countries

The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent-maximisation model would have in developing countries, and argues that a more gradual approach would be preferable. The welfare function of small-scale fisheries, namely, their capacities to provide labour and cash income to resource-poor households, should be preserved until the appropriate macroeconomic conditions for rent-maximisation and redistribution are fulfilled

Small-scale fisheries through the wellbeing lens

Despite longstanding recognition that small-scale fisheries make multiple contributions to economies, societies and cultures, assessing these contributions and incorporating them into policy and decision-making has suffered from a lack of a comprehensive integrating ‘lens’. This paper focuses on the concept of ‘wellbeing’ as a means to accomplish this integration, thereby unravelling and better assessing complex social and economic issues within the context of fisheries governance. We emphasize the relevance of the three key components of wellbeing – the material, relational and subjective dimensions, each of which is relevant to wellbeing at scales ranging from individual, household, community, fishery to human-ecological systems as a whole. We review nine major approaches influential in shaping current thinking and practice on wellbeing: the economics of happiness, poverty, capabilities, gender, human rights, sustainable livelihoods, vulnerability, social capital, and social wellbeing. The concept of identity is a thread that runs through the relational and subjective components of social wellbeing, as well as several other approaches and thus emerges as a critical element of small-scale fisheries that requires explicit recognition in governance analysis. A social wellbeing lens is applied to critically review a global body of literature discussing the social, economic and political dimensions of small-scale fishing communities, seeking to understand the relevance and value addition of applying wellbeing concepts in small-scale fisheries