Transdisciplinarity for Small-Scale Fisheries Governance: Analysis and Practice

477 Pages·2019·7.733 MB·English

by  Ratana Chuenpagdee, Svein Jentoft

MARE Publication Series 21
Ratana Chuenpagdee
Svein Jentoft Editors
T ransdisciplinarity
for Small-Scale
Fisheries Governance
Analysis and Practice
MARE Publication Series
Volume 21
Series editors
Maarten Bavinck, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
[email protected]
Svein Jentoft, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
[email protected]
The MARE Publication Series is an initiative of the Centre for Maritime Research
(MARE). MARE is an interdisciplinary social-science network devoted to studying
the use and management of marine resources. It is based jointly at the University of
Amsterdam and Wageningen University (www.marecentre.nl).
The MARE Publication Series addresses topics of contemporary relevance in the
wide field of ‘people and the sea’. It has a global scope and includes contributions
from a wide range of social science disciplines as well as from applied sciences.
Topics range from fisheries, to integrated management, coastal tourism, and
environmental conservation. The series was previously hosted by Amsterdam
University Press and joined Springer in 2011.
The MARE Publication Series is complemented by the Journal of Maritime
Studies (MAST) and the biennial People and the Sea Conferences in Amsterdam.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10413
Ratana Chuenpagdee • Svein Jentoft
Editors
Transdisciplinarity
for Small-Scale Fisheries
Governance
Analysis and Practice
Editors
Ratana Chuenpagdee Svein Jentoft
Department of Geography Norwegian College of Fishery Science
Memorial University of Newfoundland UiT The Arctic University of Norway
St. John’s, NL, Canada Tromsø, Norway

Too Big To Ignore (TBTI; toobigtoignore.net) is a global research network and knowledge mobi-
lization partnership, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,
and supported by 15 partner organizations and over 500 members from around the world. The
network aims at elevating the profile of small-scale fisheries, arguing against their marginalization
in national and international policies, and developing research and governance capacity to address
global fisheries challenges.
ISSN 2212-6260 ISSN 2212-6279 (electronic)
MARE Publication Series
ISBN 978-3-319-94937-6 ISBN 978-3-319-94938-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94938-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018954963
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019
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Cover illustration: Lobster traps of Newfoundland, Photo by Jaehong Jin, Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, NL,
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Foreword
Ignorance about small-scale fisheries has prevailed way too long in this water world
of ours. Ironically, small-scale fisheries are responsible for feeding vast numbers of
people, and, though often theoretically recognized as important, in practice, they are
typically marginalized. Instead, large-scale fisheries draw attention and help. While
it may be true that there have been a plethora of studies of fisheries and fisheries
governance, rarely have researchers looked beyond the questions raised by their
own singular disciplines. The amazing, multiyear project entitled, “Too Big To
Ignore (TBTI): Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries Research,” funded by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), has
taken steps to remedy our collective ignorance. This book is a synthesis of 6 years
of workshops, congresses, and research focused on the potential for taking an inno-
vative, transdisciplinary approach to the governance of small-scale fisheries. Case
studies reflecting local, national, and global contexts illuminate challenges in gov-
ernance, stewardship, food security, alleviation of poverty, livelihoods, human
rights, and social justice associated with small-scale fisheries. Importantly, a path
forward is laid out to help build capacity for the practical application of the ideals
of transdisciplinary governance, research, and development.
As a graduate student, I learned about ethnographic fieldwork by spending a
summer on the fleet of trawlers that fished out of Provincetown, Massachusetts
(USA). Later, I spent a year in Saint-Louis, Senegal (West Africa), learning about
the essential role of small-scale earnings derived from the marketing of fish by
women. Despite the differences in the scale of fishing operations (including quanti-
ties of landings, vessel sizes, gear used, processing, and markets), similarities in
challenges, as well as values, norms, and the significance of local knowledge, were
striking. These studies led to a 30+-year career primarily focused on the fishing
industry, writ large, of the northeast United States.
While the region’s industry is dominated by what would be considered large-
scale fisheries in other parts of the world, the challenges of governance share many
of the same issues faced by small-scale fisheries around the globe. As the research-
ers in this volume found in their work with small-scale fisheries, problem-solving in
the US fisheries has been most effective in the context of collaboration among a
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whole array of stakeholders including researchers from a variety of disciplines, fish-
ers and their representatives (often wives), civil society organizations, and govern-
ment managers. Though these efforts may not be characterized as fully
transdisciplinary, they could be considered as moving in that direction. The work
described herein is, I would argue, valuable to all interested in fisheries, regardless
of scale. Nevertheless, given the well-documented tendency to turn a blind eye to
the small-scale, this book is imperative for understanding and aiding the multitude
of fisheries around the world whose value is not easily measured by quantities
landed and money earned.
The editors of this volume, Ratana Chuenpagdee and Svein Jentoft, have long
been clear-eyed advocates for small-scale fisheries, recognizing their significance
and working on theoretical frameworks that could lead to the engagement of all in
the effort to solve the “wicked” problems associated with these fisheries and their
communities. Their research, writing, teaching, and outreach created the foundation
for the project and this book.
My first involvement with TBTI was participation in a workshop on “Fishing
Futures” that explored case studies from a variety of locales around the world. Later,
I was able to attend the Second World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress held in
Merida, Mexico in 2014. The latter provided a wealth of information, rich descrip-
tions, and thoughtful analyses of diverse fisheries. An innovative aspect was the
provision of translators for the fishers who attended thus permitting first-person
commentary and a modicum of empowerment. Small group presentations and dis-
cussions encouraged attendees to delve into particular topics at greater length and
with more attention to a transdisciplinary perspective than is usually the case in
academic conferences. This book reflects some of the thinking that served as the
basis for these in-person meetings, carrying it forward to identify what has and
hasn’t worked in implementation.
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to recommend this book as an excellent
compilation of essays offering a window into the world of small-scale fisheries and
governance. The book makes a strong case for transdisciplinary approaches to both
research and action in order to assure that these fisheries, the humans that rely on
them, and their communities, survive.
Anthropologist (retired) Madeleine Hall-Arber
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
Sea Grant Program
Cambridge, MA, USA
Series Editors’ Preface
The majority of volumes that have been published in the MARE Publication Series
have been devoted to capture fisheries, with many highlighting the fate of small-
scale fishing populations in the world. There were good reasons for authors to pay
attention to the latter topic: small-scale fisheries provide an important source of
employment and food security and are argued to be more environmentally appropri-
ate than the industrial fisheries that have come about in the past century. Nevertheless,
small-scale fishers are becoming increasingly marginalized. It is for these reasons
that FAO has recently taken up their cause and spearheaded the Voluntary Guidelines
for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (2014). The Too Big To Ignore
(TBTI): Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries Research, of which the cur-
rent volume is a product, has made a very important contribution to the international
effort in support of small-scale fishers (men and women), mainly by means of
research activities and advocacy. We are proud that the five edited volumes pro-
duced by TBTI in the course of 5 years, including this one, have all been published
in the MARE Publication Series.
The present volume is organized according to the key questions that were formu-
lated to guide TBTI research. The interactive governance perspective that has
imbued the work of TBTI throughout also assists in structuring this volume, the
main topic of which is the promotion of transdisciplinary knowledge and action.
Transdisciplinary science integrates the scientific knowledge of academics with the
experiential knowledge of practitioners, while transdisciplinary governance recog-
nizes that policy is the result not only of rational deliberation but of agreement on
values that are pertinent in specific societal contexts. This volume is intended to
give the process of realizing sustainable small-scale fisheries another useful impulse.
We wish to congratulate Ratana Chuenpagdee and Svein Jentoft, who have provided
strong leadership to the TBTI project, with the completion of yet another high
quality manuscript!
The MARE Publication Series commenced in 2004 with Amsterdam University
Press but moved to Springer Academic Publishers in 2012. It has hitherto contained
20 edited and single-authored volumes on a variety of regions and topics in the
vii
viii Series Editors’ Preface
topical field of people, coasts, and seas. Fritz Schmuhl and other staff of Springer
have facilitated the production process, for which we again say thanks!
On behalf of the series editors,
University of Amsterdam Maarten Bavinck
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Acknowledgments
This book results from the research that has been carried out by members of the Too
Big To Ignore (TBTI): Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries Research and
colleagues around the world to help reveal the importance of small-scale fisheries to
food security, well-being, livelihoods, community viability, environmental steward-
ship, and fisheries sustainability. We are truly grateful for the strong commitment
and contributions of all the authors, many of whom have been the long-time support
and leaders of TBTI. We appreciate the time and constructive comments from the
many people who have reviewed individual chapters. We are indebted to
Dr. Madeleine Hall-Arber, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sea Grant
Program, for the ardent support to TBTI and for kindly writing the book foreword.
Our thanks go also to Nicole Franz of FAO and Sebastian Mathew of International
Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) for their endorsement.
A very special thanks to Vesna Kereži, TBTI Project Manager, for her dedication
to TBTI in general and for her fervent effort to bring this book, as well as the previ-
ous ones, to completion. Once again, we are happy to include this book in the
Springer MARE Book Series, which was enthusiastically received by the series
editor, Maarten Bavinck, and well supported by Springer staff, Fritz Schmuhl and
Joseph Daniel. Svein Jentoft wishes to thank Daniela Kalikoski for her support dur-
ing his sabbatical stay with FAO while working on this book.
TBTI is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada (grant number 895-2011-1011), through the partnership program. We thank
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada, for hosting TBTI and
for the generous support that it provides, in terms of cash and in-kind contribution,
which has made it possible for us to conduct our research and to build partnerships
for sustainable small-scale fisheries worldwide.
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