{"id":93990,"date":"2022-04-19T18:34:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T13:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/?post_type=samudra&p=93990"},"modified":"2022-04-19T18:36:27","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T13:06:27","slug":"seize-the-day","status":"publish","type":"samudra","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/samudra\/seize-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Seize the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
The International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022) is a rare opportunity to promote much-needed transdisciplinary research into small-scale fisheries<\/strong><\/p>\n This article is by Svein Jentoft <\/strong>(svein.jentoft@uit.no), professor emeritus at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science, UiT\u2014The Arctic University of Norway, and a founding member of the Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) and Ratana Chuenpagdee<\/strong> (ratanac@mun.ca), university research professor at Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, and the founder and director of TBTI<\/p>\n This is a special year for small-scale fisheries. The International Year for Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022) brings more attention to the sector as also to the people who draw their livelihood both from life below and above water. Their well-being depends on healthy ecosystems, sensible government policies and well-functioning communities.<\/p>\n IYAFA 2022 is an opportunity for States to reconfirm the commitment they made in 2014, when they endorsed the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (the SSF Guidelines). There are thus reasons to be hopeful that positive change will come to small-scale fisheries around the world and that they will no longer be ignored or marginalized as in the past. IYAFA 2022 is a window of opportunity for real action in several arenas, not the least of which is research and knowledge production.<\/p>\n Too Big To Ignore<\/strong><\/p>\n Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) is a global network to conduct research on small-scale fisheries. Like other contributors included as \u2018stakeholders\u2019 in the SSF Guidelines, IYAFA 2022 is expected to lead positive change for researchers who devote their time and effort to learning more about small-scale fisheries, and to support their viability and sustainability. Just as small-scale fisheries have been overlooked in the past, research in this field has been similarly disregarded\u2014and for many of the same reasons. If governments see little potential in small-scale fisheries, concluding that the future is in large-scale industrialization, they have few reasons to incentivize research into small-scale fisheries.<\/p>\n Is the Blue Economy what small-scale fisheries have been waiting for, or is it a threat to their survival?<\/strong><\/p>\n That is not how the SSF Guidelines define specific roles for the academic community in Article 11 (Information, research and communication). The SSF Guidelines serve as a marching order for researchers around the world to engage more directly with small-scale fisheries. Without generating knowledge about their strengths and weaknesses, it is not possible to answer questions such as: Why are they so often in a state of poverty and marginalization? What is their contribution to the local economy and food security?<\/p>\n
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