Following the fish inland: understanding fish distribution networks for rural development and nutrition security

© 2019, International Society for Plant Pathology and Springer Nature B.V. 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 small-pelagic 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)

Untangling Tales of Tropical Sardines: Local Knowledge From Fisheries in Timor-Leste

Tropical sardines (Family Clupeidae) are an important component of many marine fisheries in the Indo-West Pacific region. In Timor-Leste, a small, less-developed country within this region, ‘sardiña’ are some of the more commonly caught and consumed fish. Yet there is little published information from Timor-Leste about the species composition of these fisheries, nor their biology or ecology. We document the knowledge of Timorese fishers on nine locally distinguished sardine types that contribute to fisheries, and relate these to at least nine species: four species of ‘Flat-bodied Sardinellas’ (Sardinella subg. Clupeonia spp.), one species of ‘Round-bodied Sardinella’ (Sardinella subg. Sardinella lemuru), two species of ‘Tropical Pilchards’ (Amblygaster spp.) and a ‘Tropical Herring’ species (Herklotsichthys quadrimaculatus), all from the Clupeidae family; and one Dussumieria species from the Dussumieriidae family. We record variations in local sardine names across the country and document aspects of fishers’ knowledge relevant to understanding and managing the fisheries, including local sardine species’ seasonality, habitat, movements, interannual variation, as well as post-harvest characteristics in relation to perishability. In general, local names relate more closely with groups of species than individual species, although some names also distinguish fish size within species-groups. The local knowledge identified in this study has immediate application to inform fisheries monitoring and management, and to identify areas for future research. Notably, Timorese fishers recognize and make use of the strong association between some sardine species-groups and seasonally turbid river plumes. While further research is required to understand the underlying mechanisms of this association, this emphasizes the need to consider coastal fisheries and fisher livelihood impacts when assessing any plans or proposals that may alter river flow or water quality. Fishers also recognize migratory behavior of some sardine species, in particular the Flat bodied Sardinellas (S. gibbosa and others) along the north-west coast of Timor-Leste and across the border into Indonesian West Timor. Such insights complicate and need to be accounted for in initiatives for co-management or community-based management of Timor-Leste’s coastal waters and their fisheries

A review of fish-handling training activities in Malaita Province

In Solomon Islands, many fishers, fish vendors and processors live and work in remote locations without access to electricity, roads, clean water or landing-site facilities. Some may also lack the skills, knowledge or capital to invest in new equipment or put their ideas into practice. As a result, fish is often handled in ways that cause spoilage or contamination with dirt or bacteria, which can reduce income earned and make consumers sick or hesitant to eat fish. While there are many factors that contribute to poor fish-handling practices, provision of training to increase knowledge, develop skills and change attitudes is one step that can be taken to improve the quality of fishery products. In some provinces, including Malaita Province, several training workshops on fish handling have been held in the past for both fishers and fish vendors. However, to our knowledge, there has been no evaluation of such workshops to understand their effectiveness in bringing about change

Following the fish inland: understanding fish distribution networks for rural development and nutrition security

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

Co-creating nutrition-sensitive development pathways with aquatic foods: Consulting local food systems partners in Baucau and Lautem municipalities, Timor-Leste

On 23 June 2022, WorldFish held a consultation workshop in Baucau Vila to introduce its planned action research program (Box 1) in Baucau and Lautem municipalities to its diverse partners, including national, municipal and local government representatives, community members, and local and international NGOs. This brief provides a summary of the workshop and demonstrates the first steps towards co-developing a municipality-level food systems coalition for sustainable and nutrition-sensitive transformation that includes aquatic foods

Island food systems in transition: Strengthening Indigenous food systems in Solomon Islands

This brief defines a vision for an island food system centered on rural food system actors and Indigenous foods. It provides the foundation for a new partnership program between the Kastom Gaden Association and WorldFish in Solomon Islands. This partnership will work towards implementing the island food systems vision

Increasing social and ecological resilience of coastal fisheries: program brief: FISH-2021-24

More than 775 million people have high dependence on marine ecosystems for nutritional, economic and coastal protection benefits, including via small-scale fisheries. Small-scale fisheries, of which around two thirds are marine, produce almost half the fish consumed in low- and middle-income countries and directly employ 60 million people, with a further 53 million fishing for subsistence purposes. With appropriate governance, coastal fisheries contribute to and can improve the well-being, food and nutrition security, and livelihoods of millions of people. However, the resilience of coastal fisheries and well-being of coastal communities is undermined by distal (e.g. climate change, geopolitics) and proximate (e.g. unsustainable fishing, land use changes) drivers. Research that develops technical, social and institutional innovations within specific contexts can help build adaptive capacity and enhance sustainability when also accompanied by improved regional, national and local governance

Nourishing island food systems in Solomon Islands: Operational Plan 2023

The WorldFish program in Solomon Islands is organized around four main research pathways (see figure). The first three are the agreed-upon impact areas of WorldFish, which aligns toward our adopted goal from the Solomon Islands National Fisheries Policy 2019–2029 of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR). The fourth research pathway places a deliberate emphasis on integrated planning and partnerships. Although WorldFish in Solomon Islands has many partners, we particularly integrate our research with MFMR to support national strategies toward its policy goal

National assessment and planning for improved fish handling in Solomon Islands

The report summarizes the discussions and interviews with provincial fisheries officers (PFOs) at the annual PFO conference in Honiara, November 23, 2022.The report also identifies the next steps needed to build a program on fish handling based on input from participants at the Fish Innovation project reflection workshop in Nusatupe, May 16–19, 2023

The biology and ecology of tropical marine sardines and herrings in Indo-West Pacific fisheries: a review

AbstractTropical sardines and herrings (Family Clupeidae) form important fisheries resources in the Indo-West Pacific region. However knowledge of their biology and ecology is largely scattered across diverse localised studies. In addition, their challenging taxonomy due to numerous, morphologically similar species, coupled with data collected from dispersed, often small-scale and mixed species fisheries, creates difficulties for comparing species-level research and fisheries statistics across the region. This review considers four main groups of tropical marine clupeid species important for Indo-West Pacific fisheries—Sardinella (subg. Sardinella) species (‘Round-bodied Sardinellas’), Sardinella (subg. Clupeonia) species (‘Flat-bodied Sardinellas’), Amblygaster species (‘Tropical Pilchards’), and Herklotsichthys and Escualosa species (‘Tropical Herrings’)—and collates and synthesises existing knowledge on early life history, reproduction, trophic biology, habitat associations and population dynamics. Most research on tropical clupeid biology and ecology in the Indo-West Pacific is concentrated on the Round-bodied Sardinellas (S. longiceps and S. lemuru) from a few major fishery locations; other species-groups have been studied sporadically across their distributions. Characteristics such as maximum size, life span, size at first maturity and some habitat associations are generally similar within species-groups and differ between groups. However differences within the same reported species highlight the importance of continued work to improve taxonomic identification. There remain substantial gaps in knowledge on all species-groups. Regular critical review of specific research topics, such as reproductive parameters and population dynamics, would assist to standardise methods and terminology used, enable consolidation and comparison of findings, identify local research agenda, and help build and improve research on these important tropical species.</jats:p