Immediate impact of COVID-19 across tropical small-scale fishing communities.

The volume and value of fish catches by Indonesia's small-scale fisheries have declined significantly since national government restrictions on travel and social distancing were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a digital data collection system (OurFish), that records purchases by fish traders from small-scale fishers, data was collected across 82 coastal communities in Southeast Sulawesi. We found that the number of active fishers and traders declined by more than 90% after the onset of the pandemic and the average weight of catch per fishing trip increased across fishers. Although the average price per kilogram of fish declined after the pandemic began, fishers that were able to maintain fishing had on average higher catches and therefore daily catch value was maintained. High value fisheries that usually enter export supply chains were more negatively impacted compared with lower value species that are commonly sold to local markets. We interviewed 185 small scale fishers and fish traders across 20 of the 82 communities in Southeast Sulawesi province, recording the perceived level of impact on local fisheries and the fish trade, causes of this impact and proposed coping strategies. Over 50% of both fishers and fish traders believed low demand for fish from traders and a decline in the price received for fish were disrupting their lives. Approximately 75% of both male and female fishers are coping by continuing to fish, highlighting that there were few alternative livelihoods available at the time of the interviews. Our results provide key insights into the vulnerability of small-scale fishing communities to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impacts of COVID-19 on fishing villages and related adaptation strategies

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan raised its alert level to Level 3 in May 2021 and began to strengthen various pandemic prevention measures, which directly affected economic activities and people's lives. The fishery industry and fishing villages have also been impacted. This study investigated fishing villages in Taiwan, and conducted a literature review, focus groups, and in-depth interviews to explore the situations of the fishing villages under the impacts of COVID-19 in Taiwan. Moreover, it discussed the post-pandemic adaptation strategies to help the fishing villages deal with the uncertainty caused by the pandemic and sustainable development. The research results show that due to the pandemic prevention measures, the fishing villages reduced community operations, maintained safe social distancing, implemented community disinfection and cleaning, reduced cross-community movement, suspended various educational programs, all of which directly affected the community organization, production, tourism, and ecological environment of the fishing villages. During the new normal period before the pandemic ceases to spread, the operational models of fishing villages need to incorporate remote resources, Internet marketing, travel planning based on pandemic control, and ecological resources monitoring. At the same time, strengthening the community network of the fishing village residents, reinforcing the cooperation and exchange of experiences among partners of the fishing village, and cultivating the ability and resilience of the fishing villages for continuous operations in the post-pandemic era are important strategies to achieve the sustainable development of fishing villages.

Addressing vulnerability and exclusion in the South African small-scale fisheries sector: does the current regulatory framework measure up?

Small-scale fishers and fishing communities have long suffered marginalisation and discrimination in South Africa. New laws and policies promulgated as the result of a court case brought by small-scale fishers, NGOs and academics attempt to rectify this problem. Drawing on the poverty-vulnerability-marginalisation framework, the paper considers whether this regulatory regime reduces vulnerability and marginalisation within the sector as an important precursor to poverty reduction initiatives, such as improved rights allocation. While the new regulatory regime is a step in the right direction, the paper ultimately finds that there are shortcomings in these laws, many of which have been thrown into sharp relief by the rights implementation process and COVID-19 lockdowns. These include narrow eligibility criteria for fishing rights, a lack of substantive solutions when it comes to vulnerable groups, processes insufficient to prevent elite capture, and impediments to the practice of alternative livelihoods. These shortcomings must be addressed through the appropriate expansion of access rights, consultation with fishers and more inclusive drafting, if the contribution of small-scale fisheries to development and poverty reduction in South Africa is to be realised.

Pandemic risk, response, and resilience of fishermen in Ghana: a case study of fishing communities in Stratum VII, Volta Lake

In 2019, the World Health Organization reported the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19 in humans. In view of this, there has been an economic downturn since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent global lockdowns. This has led to the interference of the food system and its value chains. One major concern is Stratum VII of the Volta Lake situated in Yeji fishing community. Hence, this study was necessitated to evaluate the impact of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic on Fishermen's landings/catch, cost/revenue, and the management strategies employed during the lockdown. As a result, we urge governments and nongovernmental organizations, donors, the private sectors, and researchers to support fishermen and coastal fishing communities in alleviating the negative effect of the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

‘Bunkering down’: How one community is tightening social‐ecological network structures in the face of global change

Complex networks of relationships among and between people and nature (social‐ecological networks) play an important role in sustainability;yet, we have limited empirical understanding of their temporal dynamics.We empirically examine the evolution of a social‐ecological network in a common‐pool resource system faced with escalating social and environmental change over the past two decades.We first draw on quantitative and qualitative data collected between 2002 and 2018 in a Papua New Guinean reef fishing community to provide contextual evidence regarding the extent of social and environmental change being experienced. We then develop a temporal multilevel exponential random graph model using complete social‐ecological network data, collected in 2016 and 2018, to test key hypotheses regarding how fishing households have adapted their social ties in this context of change given their relationships with reef resources (i.e. social‐ecological ties). Specifically, we hypothesized that households will increasingly form tight‐knit, bonding social and social‐ecological network structures (H1 and H3, respectively) with similar others (H2), and that they will seek out resourceful actors with specialized knowledge that can promote learning and spur innovation (H4).Our results depict a community that is largely ‘bunkering down’ and looking inward in response to mounting risk to resource‐dependent livelihoods and a breakdown in the collaborative processes that traditionally sustained them. Community members are increasingly choosing to interact with others more like themselves (H2), with friends of friends (H1), and with those connected to interdependent ecological resources (H3)—in other words, they are showing a strong, increasing preference for forming bonding social‐ecological network structures and interacting with like‐minded, similar others. We did not find strong support for H4.Bonding network structures may decrease the risk associated with unmonitored behaviour and help to build trust, thereby increasing the probability of sustaining cooperation over time. Yet, increasing homophily and bonding ties can stifle innovation, reducing the ability to adapt to changing conditions. It can also lead to clustering, creating fault lines in the network, which can negatively impact the community's ability to mobilize and agree on/enforce social norms, which are key for managing common resources.Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Exploring Gender Dynamics in Rural Tuna Fishing Communities in the Lagonoy Gulf, Philippines

Women's contributions to rural fisheries in the Philippines are often overlooked and unrecognized. The "invisibility" of women is primarily a factor of prevailing traditional views on fishing as a male-occupied industry. Gaps in understanding the role of women in the sector may risk implementing interventions that poorly capture their needs as important players in the fisheries value chain. Developing holistic and integrated solutions becomes crucial as rural fishing communities are highly vulnerable to food and economic insecurity, aggravated by external crises and a rapidly changing climate. This study identifies and assesses the factors and motivations on the gender dynamics in the rural tuna fishing communities in the Lagonoy Gulf, Philippines. Focus-group discussions and key-informant interviews were conducted with 120 male and female respondents across six (6) of the 15 municipalities in the Lagonoy Gulf, tuna federation leaders, and female group savings association officers. Results of the study emphasize the traditional heteronormative structures that still influence household and community dynamics in Lagonoy Gulf. Women are active as ancillary workers, holding key responsibilities in marketing the harvest to local traders and markets and engaging in profit-saving activities. However, these roles are seen only as support and are not recognized to merit the participation of women in community decisionmaking. This perception also reflects disparities at the household level, where women are expected to assume household and childcare work. However, women recognize these functions as a source of empowerment, upholding their skill to handle multiple occupations to service their devotion to their family. They also highly regard their skill in financial custodianship, seeking means to address their family's financial problems. Lack of opportunities for women equally bears unhealthy expectations for men to remain the breadwinner despite struggles to reap economic benefits. Both men and women in Lagonoy Gulf echo the aspiration for women to earn to help address family poverty. This study emphasizes the need for institutional support to ensure genderbased strategies in the communities, including opening pathways for women to secure decent work and increasing their participation in local fisheries governance.

Lessons for the Opioid Crisis-Integrating Social Determinants of Health Into Clinical Care

Overdose deaths accelerated with the emergence of COVID-19, and this acceleration was fastest among Black, Latinx, and Native Americans, whose overdose rates had already increased before COVID-19.1,2 COVID-19 led to limits on access to medications for opioid use disorder and harm-reduction services, exacerbating low treatment and retention rates,3-5 in the face of toxic drug supplies laced with high-potency synthetic opioids.6 Disproportionate deaths from substance use disorders (SUDs) and from COVID-19 among low-income people marginalized by race, ethnicity, and migrant status have similar upstream causes of exposure, including unstable and crowded housing, high-risk employment or unemployment, and high levels of policing and incarceration, combined with low levels of access to health care and preventive measures. Punitive drug law enforcement discourages help seeking and treatment and leads to unstable drug supplies that are contaminated with fentanyl and other high-potency synthetic opioids that heighten overdose risk.10 Incarcerated people are at an elevated risk of drug overdose in the weeks following release,11 and communities with high incarceration rates have higher mortality.12 Drug courts disproportionately cite low-income people of color for infractions, leading to imprisonment rather than treatment.13 Economic precarity and unstable housing disrupt the social networks that sustain health and prevent overdose.14 Urban planners often displace residents of Black and Latinx neighborhoods, leaving them exposed to narcotic trade and HIV.15 The child welfare system disproportionately removes low-income Black, Latinx, and Indigenous children from families affected by SUDs, and children raised in foster care are at high risk for SUDs.16,17 Therefore, reducing SUD-related deaths and disability requires the redress of discriminatory public policies. Studies of integration of buprenorphine maintenance with organized healing sessions, fishing, hunting, and community gardening in Canadian First Nations communities have shown high rates oftreatment retention (74%) at 18 months,22 and healing sessions combined with buprenorphine have had high levels oftreatment participation, community-level reductions in criminal charges and child protection measures, increased school attendance, and increased flu vaccination.23 Faith-Based Organizations as Partners Imani Breakthrough is a culturally informed approach based on a partnership of Yale University Department of Psychiatry clinicians with Black and Latinx churches. CONCLUSIONS Clinicians can use their symbolic capital to advocate policies that address SDOH and collaborate with community organizations and nonhealth sectors to identify and act on institutional barriers to their patients' health, such as through a structural competency approach.25 Health systems must engage communities, destigmatize SUD, and link to social services with locally controlled, adaptable funds akin to the Ryan White CARE Act to build community-based infrastructure: accessible, trusted services including in cultural, faith-based, and harm-reduction organizations as well as local businesses such as pharmacies.

A review of vulnerabilities in worldwide small-scale fisheries

Addressing vulnerabilities in small-scale fisheries (SSF) has been gaining increasing attention due to their role in securing livelihoods of millions of people in the world, even though when they are subject to susceptible scenarios. We reviewed the literature with the aim of shedding light on the distribution, coping strategies, and common drivers of vulnerabilities in worldwide SSF. Seventy-eight studied cases worldwide, 21 drivers of vulnerability, and 8 coping strategies were identified. Natural and human-induced declining fish catches was the most common driver of vulnerability and disobedience of fishing rules the most common coping strategy. From the three dimensions of vulnerability, exposure (presence of vulnerable scenarios) was the highest (50%), followed by sensitivity (susceptibility to vulnerable scenarios) (29%) and adaptive capacity (ability to cope with vulnerable scenarios) (21%). The literature review highlights the need for adopting a context-specific threefold (resource management and conservation, livelihoods development, and restructured governance) approach to SSF management.

Hybrid solar fish dryers as a solution for improving the quality of fisheries products to support green technology during the pandemic COVID-19

The fishing communities in Sungai Rasau village, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, have several joint business groups that mostly process their fish catch into salted fish products and shrimp paste for sale in the market. The fish drying technique still uses traditional methods that rely on sunny weather, this is not effective because the weather is difficult to predict due to climate change globally. This means that high rainfall affects fish drying production activities. If left unchecked, this certainly results in a decrease in the quantity and quality of salted fish production and affects their income and welfare. To maintain and improve the quality of raw materials for fisheries production, the solution is the use of appropriate technology, namely making salted fish processing equipment or dryers that are energy efficient and not influenced by weather factors such as rain. Using this tool can improve the quality and quantity of production. The form of activity methods carried out includes (1) coordination with related parties to foster local fishing groups;(2) identifying problems and determining solutions;(3) solar fish dryer design;(4) making efficient technology fish dryers that effectively and efficiently utilize solar energy. At the time of implementation of the dryer, the measurement of water content using TDS obtained results that the water content of mackerel has been reduced to about 10%

Study of consumer perceptions and preferences: consumption case study of fish and shellfish in mexicali, Baja California, Mexico

Background: The agri-food sector, which includes fishing and aquaculture, poses challenges in improving the food quality and restructure markets. Currently, we have the opportunity to understand the food crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and to promote a paradigm shift in food and markets, which leads to the changes generation in the food economic system, transformation of markets and rapprochement of producers with consumers. One of the ways to bring the producer and the consumer closer to each other, is precisely to know and characterize their consumption, by conducting market studies. A market study is a systematic investigation based on the information collection and data analysis related to the outstanding characteristics of the market to which a company or a sector is directed, which allows us to know and characterize the tastes and preferences in the population consumption.

Mitigation Strategy for Fishermen’s Households as a Result of Covid-19 Pandemic Social Engineering in Sungai Kayu Ara Village

Covid-19 had a major impact on people’s lives, including the fishing community. Mitigation strategies are needed in order to reduce the impact of Covid-19. This research was conducted in March 2021 at Sungai Kayu Village. This village is one of the coastal villages located in Sungai Apit District, Siak Regency, Riau Province. The purpose of this study is to identify structural and non-structural mitigation and analyze the mitigation strategies carried out by fishing households in Sungai Kayu Ara Village. The method used in this study using the Survey Method. The population was fishing households totaling 48 households. The technique of determining the respondents is by census, which takes all the population as respondents. Data was collected by means of observation, in-depth interviews, documentation, literature studies, and online searching of data and information. The data that used: qualitative descriptive analysis and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Structural and non-structural Covid-19 mitigation in Sungai Kayu Ara Village, Sungai Apit District, Siak Regency is more focused on implementing government policies stipulated by the Regent’s regulation on handling infectious diseases and the Regent’s regulation on the application of administrative sanctions for the enforcement of health protocols in handling infectious diseases. Mitigation strategies for fishermen households in Sungai Kayu Ara Village, Sungai Apit District, Siak Regency due to the main social engineering of the covid-19 pandemic are: Selling fish caught by fishermen online, receiving protection fund and empowering fishermen, owning a plantation business (alternative business), receiving social assistance and have saving and emergency fund.

Livelihood challenges and healthcare-seeking behavior of fishermen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has posed significant challenges to human wellbeing and survival, particularly among groups of people such as the Sundarbans mangrove forest resource-dependent communities (SMFRDCs), and especially the fishermen in these communities, in developing countries like Bangladesh. It is therefore essential to explore the livelihood conditions, health status and care-seeking behavior of the fishermen in these communities during the ongoing pandemic. This study was carried out by applying mixed methods, including interviews and focus group discussion (FGD), in the three sub-districts of Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat, which are in the southwestern region adjacent to the Sundarbans mangrove forest (SMF) of Bangladesh. Quantitative data were collected from 76 fishermen through telephone interviews, while 24 fishermen participated in three distinct focus group discussions. The findings suggest that the fishermen have experienced a reduction of income, as they have been barred from entering the SMF during the pandemic, which has gradually affected their number of trips to and stays at the forest as well as their catch of fisheries resources. The decline in demand in both regional and international markets has left the fishermen with only a handful of alternative ways to adjust to these unprecedented circumstances, such as borrowing money, selling household assets, and in some extreme cases marrying off young children to reduce the financial burden, as many are now jobless. Their financial hardship during the pandemic has affected their households' capacity to afford basic household necessities, including food, fuel, education, and health expenses. Subsequently, when these fishermen suffer ailments such as fever, cough, headache, and cold - the general symptoms of COVID-19 - they cannot seek medical assistance from trained doctors. Their financial constraints have compelled them to rely on indigenous knowledge, in particular village quack doctors, or in some cases to seek help from local pharmacies for modern medicine. Thus, the government should provide financial support and strengthen the local market value chain so that disadvantaged fishermen in SMFRDCs can adopt alternative livelihood opportunities. Furthermore, longitudinal research on the impacts of COVID-19 on livelihood, local adaptation strategies, health status, and care-seeking behavior is also strongly recommended.

Unmasking governance failures: The impact of COVID-19 on small-scale fishing communities in South Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the pre-existing vulnerability of the small-scale fisheries sector in South Africa and exposed the structural inequalities and ongoing injustices facing this sector. The failures within the fisheries governance and management system linked to the slow pace of implementing the Small-scale Fisheries Policy of 2012, have further exacerbated their vulnerability. This paper explores the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the small-scale fisheries sector and exposes how governance failures within the fisheries sector have increased their vulnerability. Restrictions on fishing activities and mobility, closure of conservation areas, unfair fines and arrests, loss of markets and barriers to sale of fish products as well as lack of access to water, have had significant impacts on small-scale fishers and coastal communities. The lack of social protection and the limited emergency relief provided by government further exacerbated their precarious position. Despite their vulnerability, fishers have demonstrated a measure of resilience, supporting those in need with food, lobbying government to amend restrictions and recognise their rights, and challenging efforts to fast-track development and exclude their voices. The crisis has highlighted an urgent need for broad, national level transformation to deal with the poverty and injustices facing poor coastal communities, as well as fisheries-specific policy reform.

The rise in climate change-induced federal fishery disasters in the United States.

Commercial, recreational, and indigenous fisheries are critical to coastal economies and communities in the United States. For over three decades, the federal government has formally recognized the impact of fishery disasters via federal declarations. Despite these impacts, national syntheses of the dynamics, impacts, and causes of fishery disasters are lacking. We developed a nationwide Federal Fishery Disaster database using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fishery disaster declarations and fishery revenue data. From 1989-2020, there were 71 federally approved fishery disasters (eleven are pending), which spanned every federal fisheries management region and coastal state in the country. To date, we estimate fishery disasters resulted in $2B (2019 USD) in Congressional allocations, and an additional, conservative estimate of $3.2B (2019 USD) in direct revenue loss. Despite this scale of impact, the disaster assistance process is largely ad hoc and lacks sufficient detail to properly assess allocation fairness and benefit. Nonetheless, fishery disasters increased in frequency over time, and the causes of disasters included a broad range of anthropogenic and environmental factors, with a recent shift to disasters now almost exclusively caused by extreme environmental events (e.g., marine heatwaves, hurricanes, and harmful algal blooms). Nationwide, 84.5% of fishery disasters were either partially or entirely attributed to extreme environmental events. As climate change drives higher rates of such extreme events, and as natural disaster assistance requests reach an all-time high, the federal system for fisheries disaster declaration and mitigation must evolve in order to effectively protect both fisheries sustainability and societal benefit.