Sustainable Sea Food: a Sociological Perspective on Resilience and Artisanal

FishingDr. Brendan Flynn,

School of Political Science & Sociology, NUI, Galway.

BRIGHT BLUE SEA CONFERENCE 30 May 2013

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What is Artisanal fishing and why does it matter for Ireland in

developing a more sustainable sea food sector?

What is resilience and what practical relevance could it have for Ireland in developing a more sustainable sea

food sector?

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"”””traditional fisheries involving fishing households (as opposed to commercial companies), using relatively small amount of capital and energy, relatively small fishing vessels (if any), making short fishing trips, close to shore, mainly for local consumption. In practice, definition varies between countries, e.g. from gleaning or a one-man canoe in poor developing countries, to more than 20-m. trawlers, seiners, or long-liners in developed ones. Artisanal fisheries can be subsistence or commercial fisheries, providing for local consumption or export. They are sometimes referred to as small-scale fisheries."

http://thefishproject.weebly.com/artisanal-fisheries.html

“We use selective, low impact fishing gear. The owner works on “ the fishing vessel and we respect management rules or, if such rules are absent or insufficient, we apply self-imposed measures to protect the fish resources and their habitats. This way of working creates a firm social, cultural and economic link with our communities.” http://www.europolitique.info/pdf/gratuit_fr/324728-fr.pdfIn fact defining Artisanal fishing is a minefield

Can vary from region and contextSome fishers resent being labelled as small scaleAssumptions of lessor ecological impacts are not

always evidentSmaller boats today have much greater fishing/killing

power-today’s artisanal fishers can have as much impact as yesterdays’s big trawler man?

Artisanal Fishing does NOT mean small time, amateurish or dangerous backward fishing- a

Luddite agenda

Can involve old and new technologies

Smaller boat = less fuel burn but also less towing and trawling power...therefore

encourages use of different rigs other than bottom trawling

Smaller boats not necessarily more dangerous-safe fishing practices by staying closer to shore,

avoiding bad weather.

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And the point is?Not all fishermen are the same or to blame for overfishing

We need to support to those who are fishing more sustainablyBuilding Net to Plate Value adding links......

Why shouldn’t the consumer know not roughly where my fish was caught

(North Atlantic), but what boat, what gear, what skipper, what time

(hour and date = how fresh) and the precise GPS co-ords......this is all doable via real time data systems (AIS, VMS, E-log book) and will progress towards smaller

vessels eventually........and these are selling points...

Resilience?

“the ability of groups or communities to cope with external stresses and

disturbances as a result of social, political and environmental change. This definition highlights social resilience in relation to the concept of ecological resilience which is a characteristic of ecosystems to maintain themselves in the face of disturbance.”

(W. Neil Adger, 2000)

the ability of groups or communities to cope with external stresses and disturbances as a result of social, political and environmental change. This definition highlights social resilience in relation to the concept of ecological resilience which is a characteristic of ecosystems to maintain themselves in the face of disturbance.

As usual it is NOT an unproblematic concept

Stress on flexibility but also redundancy, robustness and this may imply that lean,

efficient social systems are actually fragile and therefore not resilient-a conflict there

with economic efficiency (and modern market capitalism)

Hard to take the general principle and make it workable in practice....BUT....building flexibility in our fishing fleet.....smaller

vessels have less impact/fuel......less time at sea....lower trophic levels (eating,

promoting, developing more shellfish, etc.), more and flexible no take zones

Not this.....

More like this

Could these perspectives help resolve row over Sea Bass fishing?

Current situation is that only Anglers can catch Sea Bass on conservation grounds.

Since 2010 Fishing Industry has sought a limited return to commercial fishing....Anglers bitterly resist this arguing there is no evidence stock has returned to health........and point out the value of Irish Sea

bass angling.......

Perhaps on a trial basis a pool of small boats (15m/50ft>) could be allowed fish for sea bass beyond the spring spawning season giving them a single week window and setting a firm one tonne weekly

catch limit and perhaps other restrictions on gear( ban on pair trawling).

This would NOT be a permanent or larger scale re opening to commercial fishing...the whole point would be to work with and reward a mostly inshore flexible fleet or artisanal fishers who are adaptable

and can switch between gears, areas, and species.

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Conclusions

Fish = 25% of planet’s proteinBut fishing is in crisis (overfishing, an impending

marine fuel energy crisis, a globalized fish business that is boom and bust, consumers demanding greater

sustainability) Ireland must take ownership of fisheries as policy-(instead of passive reception of CFP ‘reform’ (which is

only partial)The conceptions of artisanal fishing and resilience

offer some ideas to guide us......The goal is a sustainable local and regional fish

market with higher value added product. Higher value is not just about packaging, convenience or

processing or generic brands....BUT credibility, quality, distinctiveness, and integration of diverse

issues food safety, nutrition, job creation, sustainability, etc.

Sample Bibliography

Adger, W. Neil (2000) ‘Social and ecological resilience: are they related?’, Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 24, No.3, pp.347-364.

Allison, Edward H., and Frank Ellis. "The livelihoods approach and management of small-scale fisheries." Marine policy 25, no. 5 (2001): 377-388.

Berkes, Fikret, Johan Colding, Carl Folke (eds.) (2002/2008) Navigating Social-Ecological Systems/ Building Resilience for Complexity and Change. Cambridge: CUP.

Brand, F. S., and K. Jax. (2007) ‘Focusing the meaning(s) of resilience: resilience as a descriptive concept and a boundary object’, Ecology and Society, Vol.12, No.1, pp.23-29.

Folke, Carl (2006) ‘Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses’, Global Environmental Change, Vol. 16, pp.253–267.

Freire, Juan, and Antonio Garcı́Ea-Allut. "Socioeconomic and biological causes of management failures in European artisanal fisheries: the case of Galicia (NW Spain)." Marine Policy 24, no. 5 (2000): 375-384.Gelcich, Stefan, G. Edward-Jones, and Michel J. Kaiser. "Importance of Attitudinal Differences among

Artisanal Fishers toward Co‐Management and Conservation of Marine Resources." Conservation Biology 19, no. 3 (2005): 865-875.

Marshall, N. A., & Marshall, P. A. (2007). Conceptualizing and operationalizing social resilience within commercial fisheries in northern Australia. Ecology and society, 12(1), 1

Tzanatos, Evangelos, Evangelos Dimitriou, George Katselis, Michalis Georgiadis, and Constantin Koutsikopoulos. "Composition, temporal dynamics and regional characteristics of small-scale fisheries in

Greece." Fisheries Research 73, no. 1 (2005): 147-158.

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