In developing countries, small-scale fisheries are both a pivotal source of livelihood and essential for the nutritional intake of
larger food insecure populations. Distribution networks that move fish from landing sites to coastal and inland consumers offer
entry points to address livelihood enhancement and food security objectives of rural development initiatives. To be able to utilize
fish distribution networks to address national development targets, a sound understanding of how local systems function and are
organized is imperative. Here we present an in-depth examination of a domestic market chain in Timor-Leste that supplies smallpelagic fish to coastal and inland communities. We present the market chain’s different commodity flows and its distributive
reach, and show how social organization strongly influences people’s access to fish, by determining availability and affordability.
We suggest there is potential to advance Timor-Leste’s food and nutrition security targets by engaging with local influential actors
and existing social relations across fish distribution networks. We argue that in addition to developing improvements to fish
distribution infrastructure, utilizing existing or locally familiar practices, organization and social capital offers opportunity for
long term self-sufficiency. Livelihood and food security improvement initiatives involving natural resource-dependent communities are more likely to succeed if they incorporate rural development perspectives, which frame directly targeted interventions
(‘intentional’ development) within broader structural contexts (‘immanent’ development).The authors acknowledge support from staff from
the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) in the district of Maliana
and the aldeia administrative staff in Beacou. Assistance of WorldFish
Timor-Leste staff was critical in setting up the fieldwork, particularly
Mario Pereira. We are grateful for the time and information provided by
respondents in the village of Beacou, as well as those interviewed intransit, at markets and in consumer households in and around Maliana.
Fieldwork was made possible with funding from a Charles Darwin
University (CDU) post doctoral fellowship co-funded through the North
Australian Marine Research Alliance (NAMRA) in partnership with the
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the Australian National
University (ANU) and the Northern Territory Government [NAMRA-02-
2014]. Further support was provided by SwedBio (a programme at
Stockholm Resilience Centre), Australian National Centre for
Agriculture Research (ACIAR – FIS/2010/097) and the Consultative
Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research
Program on Fish in Agri-food Systems (‘FISH’). Finally, the authors
thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and
Neil Andrew for his review of draft
