Country: Brazil
Vanessa Eyng is a Journalist from Brazil, engaged in Amazon conservation projects since 2013. She has experience providing communication advisory to research institutions and NGOs. She has been working on science communication in participatory research along with local communities, and in co-management initiatives, some of them related to fisheries management in protected areas. From August, 2019 - August, 2020 she had the opportunity to live in St. John's, Canada, and collaborate with Too Big to Ignore research, exploring in particular the multifaceted impact of Covid-19 on small-scale fisheries.
Q: What are you currently working on within the context of small-scale fisheries?
Since 2018 I have been working in the network Citizen Science for the Amazon, mainly in the implementation of a local project with small-scale fishers in the Middle Amazon River Area, Brazil, where small-scale fisheries play a central role for sustaining the livelihood of the local communities. This work involves development and implementation of training methodologies, creation and production of communication material, educational projects with local schools and implementation of teacher training. Citizen science is a unique opportunity to generate information on fish and waters at the Amazon Basin scale, and to involve citizens as informed and empowered stakeholders for the sustainable management of fisheries and the conservation of Amazonian wetlands. Citizen Science for the Amazon is a network of organizations collaborating to empower citizens and generate knowledge about fish and aquatic ecosystems in the Amazon Basin, the world's largest freshwater system.
Q. If you could single out one or two most significant factors for securing sustainability of small-scale fisheries, what would these factors be?
From a communication perspective, for me the most relevant aspect is our ability to create and sustain collaborative spaces. We need to promote open, multi-way dialogues, recognizing traditional knowledge and local interests in policy-making.
