When Fish is Water: Food Security and Fish in a Coastal Community in The Dominican Republic Item Type Report Authors Stoffle, Richard, W. Publisher Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Download date 08/10/2021 00:41:31 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/292622 Understanding the cultures of fishing communities A key to fisheries management and food security Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Cover photo: Small -scale fishing community, West Indies, by J.R. McGoodwin FAO Understanding the cultures of FISHERIES TECHNICAL fishing communities PAPER A key to fisheries management 401 and food security by James R. McGoodwin Professor Department of Anthropology University of Colorado Boulder, USA Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2001 The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ISBN 92 -5- 104606 -9 All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non -commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief, Publishing and Multimedia Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e -mail to copyright @fao.org © FAO 2001 111 PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT The Fishery Policy and Planning Division of the FAO Fisheries Department regularly publishes technical documentation relevant for fisheries policy planning and management. This document has been prepared in response to increasing interest and inquiries from people working in the analysis of the social and cultural issues concerning these fields.The document is intended for both field workers and planners involved in fisheries management and development, whether in inland or coastal areas. Comments and suggestions would be appreciated and should be sent to the Chief, Development Planning Service (FIPP), Fisheries. Department, FAO, Rome. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to Koichi Tahara and Ulf Wijkström, Fishery Policy and Planning Division, FAO, for their support, coordination, suggestions and encouragement through every phase of preparing this document. Thanks also to the case -study authors, independent experts, and other members of the FAO Fisheries Department for their enriching contributions, and to the Government of Japan for providing the funding that made this project possible. Author's full address: James R. McGoodwin Professor Department of Anthropology Campus Box 233 University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309 USA Distribution: FAO Fisheries Department FAO Regional and Country Representatives FAO Regional Fishery Officers FAO Fisheries Field Projects iv McGoodwin, J.R. Understanding the cultures of fishing communities: a key to fisheries management and food security. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 401. Rome, FAO. 2001. 287p. ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to help fisheries officials better understand the cultures of small- scale fishing communities.By doing so they will be better prepared to develop more successful management policies and practices, and to help people in such communities to have more decent lives.The paper discusses cultural characteristics of small -scale fishing communities that are particularly important for fisheries officials to understand.Methods which might help fisheries managers to obtain trustworthy and reliable information about fishing cultures in an ethical manner are also suggested, including methods for rapidly acquiring important information while working within tight budgetary and time constraints. Recommendations appearing near the end of the paper provide guidance concerning how the foregoing objectives can be achieved, underscoring the importance of sustaining small -scale fishers'rightsof accesstofisheries resources while making theirculturesintegral considerationsinfisheries- management policies and practices. Six casestudiesof contemporary small -scale fishing communities from distin ,t world -culture regions are annexed at the end, richly exemplifying many of the issues discussed in the paper. V CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix 1. PURPOSE AND INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 The crisis in contemporary fisheries and fisheries management 1 1.2 The fisheries are a human phenomenon 1 1.3 Reconstructing fisheries management, planning, and policy 2 1.4 Emphasis on small -scale fishing communities 2 1.5 Problems facing contemporary small -scale fishing communities 4 1.6 The special fisheries- management needs of small -scale fishing communities 6 1.7Guidance for fisheries officials 6 2.CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SMALL -SCALE FISHING COMMUNITIES 8 2.1 Society, community and culture 8 2.2 The cultures of small -scale fishing communities 10 2.3 Small -scale fishing communities in developing countries 11 2.4 Fishing livelihoods 13 2.5 Occupational pride, tenacity and cultural identity 14 2.6 Cultural and technological adaptations to marine ecosystems 15 2.7Intimate and functionally- oriented knowledge of marine ecosystems 19 2.8 Social organization and the division of labor 21 2.9Cultural adaptations to risks and uncertainties 27 2.10 Community -based fisheries management 32 2.11 Recommended reading 40 3. STRENGTHENING AND PROTECTING SMALL -SCALE FISHING COMMUNITIES 43 3.1 Fisheries- management policies and practices 43 3.2 Instituting cooperative co- management 45 3.3 Conferring property rights 46 3.4 Protecting small -scale fishing communities from external threats 48 3.5 Managing conflicts between people having different cultural orientations 55 3.6 Safeguarding small -scale fishing communities from unfavorable differentials of power 56 4.METHODS FOR STUDYING THE CULTURES OF FISHING COMMUNITIES 57 4.1 What is "methodology ?" 57 4.2Why are methods important? 58 4.3Validity and reliability 58 vi 4.4Ethical considerations 59 4.5Privacy 60 4.6Informed consent 60 4.7Utility 60 4.8Research design and methods 61 4.9Participant observation 61 4.10 Working with key informants 62 4.11 Collecting field notes 63 4.12 Unstructured and semi- structured interviewing 63 4.13 Structured interviewing 64 4.14 Questionnaires and survey research 65 4.15 Scales and scaling 66 4.16 Unobtrusive observation 68 4.17 Participatory approaches 69 4.18 Recommended readings on methods for studying the cultures of small -scale fishing communities 70 5. RAPID ASSESSMENT OF SMALL -SCALE FISHING COMMUNITIES 72 5.1 Introduction 72 5.2Site selection: the first step 72 5.3 Types of information to be yielded 73 5.4 Recruitment and organization of the research team 73 5.5Methods for data collection 74 5.6Reporting the results and how these should be reflected in management schemes 75 5.7Limitations of rapid assessments 75 5.8Recommended readings on methods for conducting rapid assessments 75 6. RECOMMENDATIONS 77 6.1 General recommendations 77 6.2 Recommended subjects of study for understanding the cultures of small- scale fishing communities 78 6.3 Recommendations regarding promoting and legitimizing fishers' organizations 80 6.4 Recommendations for harmonizing new management and development schemes with fishers' traditional systems 81 6.5Recommendations regarding capacity building 83 6.6Recommendations regarding promoting public awareness of the cultures of small -scale fishing communities 85 7.APPENDIXES 87 7.1 Background for this study 87 7.2Examples of data sets that can be collected by rapid assessments 90 vii 8. END NOTES 95 9. REFERENCES CITED 97 CASE STUDIES Species- oriented resource management and dialogue on reef fish conservation: a case study from small -scale fisheries in Yaeyama Islands, Southwestern Japan (by Tomoya Akimichi) 109 Integration of traditional institutions and people's participation in an artisanal fisheries development project in Southeastern Nigeria (by Menakhem Ben -Yami) 133 Small -scale whaling in North America (by Milton M.R. Freeman) 169 The socio- cultural aspects of fisheries: implications for food and livelihood security. A case study of Kerala State, India (by John Kurien) 195 When fish is water: food security and fish in a coastal community in the Dominican Republic (by Richard W. Stoffle) 219 Hebrides and West coast of Scotland: the social and cultural importance of the coastal fishing communities and their contribution to food security (by David Thomson) 247 ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. PURPOSE AND INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to help fisheries officials better understand the cultures of small - scale fishing communities.By doing so they will be better prepared to develop more successful management policies and practices, while helping people in fishing communities to have more decent lives. Nearly 95% of the world's fishers are small -scale fishers, and collectively they harvest nearly half of the world's fish catch that is designated for human consumption. These number more than 20 million primary producers plus another 20 million small -scale processors, marketers, and distributors, totaling approximately 40 million