Small‐scale fisher economies, small‐scale fisher values
Panel organizer: Derek Johnson
Panel proposal to the conference People and the Sea IX: Dealing with Maritime Mobilities, Amsterdam, 5‐7 July, 2017
In this panel, emerging from, but not limited to, ongoing work through the project Too Big to Ignore: Global Partnership for Research on Small‐scale Fisheries, we look at the relationship between values and small‐scale fisher (including aquaculture) economies.
A strong theme in research on small‐scale fisheries is the assertion that the work of fishing in itself is motivating and rewarding. Fishers are often also argued to be highly competitive in their pursuit of the big catch. Both of these are statements about the values at play in small‐scale fisheries. Both are also statements about elements driving how small‐scale fishing economies work.
The questions that will steer the panel include:
- How do the ways in which values have been conceived in studies of small‐scale fisheries shape understandings of small‐scale fisher economies?
- Should small‐scale fisher economies be seen as operating under a distinct logic in comparison to other sectoral economies and therefore analyzed differently?
- How do ongoing transitions and heightened mobilities in small‐scale fisheries (economic, ecological, technological, and otherwise) influence values?
- How are such changes filtered through social differences and inequality across the value chain and what are the implications for distribution?
- Are new economic conditions and relationships indicative of a bleak future for small‐ scale fisheries, or are there also hints of potentially promising new economic arrangements and associated benefits for fisher wellbeing?
Instructions: If you are interested in joining this panel, please send your abstract to Derek Johnson (derek.johnson@umanitoba.ca). If there is sufficient interest, we will consider putting together a second panel proposal that may include papers that focus on other themes related to the topic of diverse values in small‐scale fisheries.
