RESUMO
Wild-caught fish provide an irreplaceable source of essential nutrients in food-insecure places. Fishers catch thousands of species, yet the diversity of aquatic foods is often categorized homogeneously as 'fish', obscuring an understanding of which species supply affordable, nutritious and abundant food. Here, we use catch, economic and nutrient data on 2,348 species to identify the most affordable and nutritious fish in 39 low- and middle-income countries. We find that a 100 g portion of fish cost between 10 and 30% of the cheapest daily diet, with small pelagic fish (herring, sardine, anchovy) being the cheapest nutritious fish in 72% of countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, where nutrient deficiencies are rising, <20% of small pelagic catch would meet recommended dietary fish intakes for all children (6 months to 4 years old) living near to water bodies. Nutrition-sensitive policies that ensure local supplies and promote consumption of wild-caught fish could help address nutrient deficiencies in vulnerable populations.
RESUMO
COVID-19 is continuing to have far-reaching impacts around the world, including on small-scale fishing communities. This study details the findings from 39 in-depth interviews with community members, community leaders, and fish traders in five communities in Kenya about their experiences since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, 2020. The interviews were conducted by mobile phone between late August and early October 2020. In each community, people were impacted by curfews, rules about gathering, closed travel routes, and bans on certain activities. Fish trade and fisheries livelihoods were greatly disrupted. Respondents from all communities emphasized how COVID-19 had disrupted relationships between fishers, traders, and customers; changed market demand; and ultimately made fishing and fish trading livelihoods very difficult to sustain. While COVID-19 impacted different groups in the communities-i.e., fishers, female fish traders, and male fish traders-all experienced a loss of income and livelihoods, reduced cash flow, declining food security, and impacts on wellbeing. As such, although small-scale fisheries can act as a crucial safety net in times of stress, the extent of COVID-19 disruptions to alternative and informal livelihoods stemmed cash flow across communities, and meant that fishing was unable to fulfil a safety net function as it may have done during past disruptions. As the pandemic continues to unfold, ensuring that COVID-19 safe policies and protocols support continued fishing or diversification into other informal livelihoods, and that COVID-19 support reaches the most vulnerable, will be critical in safeguarding the wellbeing of families in these coastal communities.
RESUMO
Many conservation interventions are hypothesized to be beneficial for both the environment and people's well-being, but this has rarely been tested rigorously. We examined the effects of adoption or nonadoption of a conservation intervention on 3 dimensions of people's well-being (material, relational, and subjective) over time. We focused on a fisheries bycatch management initiative intended to reduce environmental externalities associated with resource extraction. We collected panel data from fishers (n = 250) in villages with (adopters and nonadopters) and without (control) the conservation intervention 3 times over 2 years. We found no evidence that adoption reduced any of the 3 dimensions of well-being in the local populations affected by the intervention. There were modest improvements in material (t = -1.58) and subjective livelihood well-being (p = 0.04) for adopters relative to nonadopters over time. The variations in well-being experiences (in terms of magnitude of change) among adopters, nonadopters, and controls across the different domains over time affirmed the dynamic and social nature of well-being.
Evaluación de los Resultados de la Conservación mediante Indicadores Multidimensionales de Bienestar Resumen Se plantea que muchas intervenciones de conservación son benéficas tanto para el ambiente como para el bienestar de las personas, pero esto rara vez ha sido analizado rigurosamente. Examinamos los efectos de la adopción o no adopción de una intervención de conservación sobre tres dimensiones del bienestar de las personas (material, relacional, subjetivo) a lo largo del tiempo. Nos enfocamos en la iniciativa de manejo de la captura accesoria de una pesquería cuya intención es reducir las externalidades asociadas con la extracción de recursos. Recolectamos datos de panel de los pescadores (n = 250) en aldeas con (adoptantes y no adoptantes) y sin (control) la intervención de conservación tres veces durante dos años. No encontramos evidencia de que la adopción redujera cualquiera de las tres dimensiones del bienestar en las poblaciones locales afectadas por la intervención. Con el tiempo, notamos que hubo mejoras modestas en el bienestar de sustento material (t = −1.58) y subjetivo (p = 0.04) para los adoptantes en comparación con los no adoptantes. Las variaciones en las experiencias de bienestar (en cuanto a la magnitud del cambio) entre los adoptantes, no adoptantes y los controles a lo largo de los diferentes dominios a través del tiempo reafirmaron la naturaleza dinámica y social del bienestar.