The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has just released the latest editions of two of its popular fisheries publications SAMUDRA Report, its triannual journal on fisheries, communities and livelihoods, and Yemaya, its newsletter on gender and fisheries.
SAMUDRA Report No. 70, dated March 2015, features articles from Asia, Africa and South America, besides reports on meetings, conferences and workshops on small-scale fisheries.
The article from Chile shows how the country’s socially and politically troubled waters have provided a rich harvest of organizations that defend the rights of artisanal fishworkers, while that from Senegal focuses on the food security and livelihoods issues that face artisanal small-scale fishing communities in the area.
The problems of introducing the Nile perch into Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, is dealt with in another article. Yet another reveals how the development of a tide embankment project in Saemangeum in South Korea has robbed shellfish fishers in the region of livelihood opportunities.
From Indonesia comes an article on how the newly elected president, Joko Widodo, enjoys an unprecedented opportunity to tackle the issues facing the country’s fishing villages.
Two articles from India deal with migration of fishers and a historic judgement of an environmental court. The first deals with how families in the coastal villages of Andhra Pradesh are affected by the migration of fishers. The second summarizes a recent landmark judgement by India’s National Green Tribunal which awarded compensation to the traditional fishers of Mumbai for the loss of livelihoods caused by coastal development.
SAMUDRA Report No. 70 also carries a report on The UserRights 2015: Fisheries, Forever conference, held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which was a global forum on rights-based approaches for fisheries. The meet is also the subject of the editorial Comment, which argues that rights-based approaches in fisheries should be framed in a human-rights-based framework.
Two other reports deal with meetings in Thailand and Myanmar, and the ICSF-BOBLME India (East Coast) Workshop which discussed the FAO SSF Guidelines.
The Roundup section of the issue carries news, fisheries statistics, notices and announcements.
SAMUDRA Report No. 70 can be accessed at http://www.icsf.net/en/samudra/article/EN/70.html?limitstart=0
The latest edition of ICSF’s newsletter on gender and fisheries, Yemaya No. 48, dated March 2015, features reports from Chile, India and Pakistan as well as notices, interviews and profiles.
The editorial in the current issue highlights the significance of March 8, International Women’s Day, which, coincidentally, marks a year since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on board which was ICSF’s Executive Secretary Chandrika Sharma, who championed the rights of small-scale fishworkers, particularly women, and who played a pivotal role in the formulation of the FAO SSF Guidelines.
The article from Chile draws on a research study to show that increasing numbers of women are joining the lucrative salmon industry, doing the same jobs as men but for less pay.
The India article focuses on the Sundarbans forest where women canoe fishers are organizing themselves to secure their constitutionally-protected right to survival and livelihood.
In another article, homage is paid in a tribute to Tahira Shah, the leader of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, who recently passed away.
Yemaya No. 48 also profiles Annie Castaldo, a shellfish farmer in the Laguna of Thau, France. The Q&A section of the issue features an interview with Bela Behera, fishworker and board member of Samudram, a federation of women’s self-help groups in Odisha, India.
The ever-popular cartoon series, Yemaya Mama, completes the latest edition of Yemaya.
Yemaya No. 48 can be accessed at http://www.icsf.net/en/yemaya/article/EN/48.html?limitstart=0
ICSF is an international NGO that works towards the establishment of equitable, gender-just,self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector.
For more, please visit www.icsf.net
ICSF 2015