V2V PHOTO OF THE WEEK 2021
V2V Photo of the Week: December 29, 2021
This photo was captured in Satpada, Chilika Lagoon, Odisha state in India. It depicts fishing boats used by small-scale fishing communities in the Chilika lagoon. These boats are one of the most important fishing equipment of the marginalized fisher folks of the lagoon. The photo is taken immediately after Cyclone Fani hit the Odisha coast in May 2019. It shows the devastating imprints of the cyclone on assets (e.g., boats, houses, vegetation) which have negatively affected the source of income and livelihoods of the marginalized fishing communities. Cyclone Fani opened four new mouths (small inlets) into the sea that changed the salinity gradient. The action impacted the fragile balance between the salt water and the fresh water and disturbed the ecosystem of 90 percent of the migratory fish that used to migrate from fresh water (sea) to the salt water (lagoon). This process decreased the number of catches in the lagoon tremendously. In recent years, climate change-induced vulnerabilities such as cyclones have been a regular phenomenon in the region making the marginalized fishing communities further vulnerable to climate-related hazards and disasters in the Bay of Bengal coast.
Photo credit and Contributor: Janmejaya Mishra, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: December 22, 2021
The photo was captured during a fish assessment frame survey of bodies of water at the Shiroro dam in Niger State of Nigeria. It shows Fisher women and men selling dried fish and buying grains and root crops such as yams and potatoes at the landing site. The landing site, which was constructed mainly for electricity generation, is owned by the government and is used by the community free of charge for the activities of fishing and fish processing. The small-scale fishery of the area employs traditional practices of the use of plant kernels, hooks and lines, nets, and dug-out canoes. The challenges these small-scale fishers deal with are the shortage of fishing gear and the difficulties of transporting the caught fresh fish to the market because of a lack of transportation and preservation facilities. Therefore, dried fish processing is the best method to preserve fish without losing its quality. Processing of dried fish is mainly carried out by the use of coals and firewood in local smoking kilns, and a small percentage of dried fish gets prepared by sun drying. Fish processing is carried out by the women who collect the catch from their husbands. The boats are mainly owned by men while some of the women, who are widows or single, buy fish to be processed or go fishing by themselves.
Photo credit: Ishaku Makadas Yusuf (FMARD KANO), 2012
Contributor: Foluke Omotayo Areola
V2V Photo of the Week: December 15, 2021
This photo was captured in the Patuakhali District of Bangladesh. It shows a group of women involved in the post-harvesting processing of fish at a fish landing center to supplement their family income. Their work shift usually takes place from morning to around noon for which they get paid around US$ 5. If they work in a landing center, they usually work for multiple fish traders (locally known as Aratdar). While the majority of the men are involved in fishing, women constitute a significant workforce in the post-harvest supply chain. Women are involved in all the divisions of the seafood supply chain, such as professional organization, administration and processing while they have a constant unpaid workload at the household level. However, their income and contribution to the economy and society are undervalued. Their knowledge and contributions are hardly recognized in the decision-making processes which generally get overlooked as helping hand.
Photo credit and Contributor: Md. Ruyel Miah, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: December 08, 2021
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This photo was captured at the “Kolkata’s backyard” - The Eastern Metropolitan Bypass cutting across the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), India, during the field visit of doctoral research focused on the environmental history of Kolkata’ canals and wetlands systems. The vast watery world intermitted by lush green patches comprise the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) - an assemblage of 254 traditionally excavated sewage-fed fishery ponds by fishers known as bheries in local Bengali dialect. The EKW recycles 750 million litres of municipal wastewater, generates 22 tonnes of fish per day through the application of wise-use resource recovery practices pursued by fishers through intergenerational transmission of knowledge. However, despite its socio-ecological significance, the EKW is making way to estate, succumbed under neo-liberal urban sprawl, disrupting sustainable flows and affecting livelihoods of its marginalized multitude.
Photo credit and Contributor: Jenia Mukherjee, 2009
V2V Photo of the Week: December 01, 2021
This photo was captured during a field visit to the confluence of the river Saptamukhi, Haripur beach, Namkhana Block, Indian Sundarbans, West Bengal, India. It shows a fisherwoman unloading the catches trapped in the net and collecting them in a pot while the male member from her family is pulling the net. In riparian Indian Sundarbans, small-scale fishing is one of the principal occupations of the Islanders where some small-scale fishers use their own traditional bag net for fishing, locally known as ‘behundi jaal’ or ‘behudi jaal’.
Photo credit and Contributor: Souradip Pathak, 2021
V2V Photo of the Week: November 24, 2021
This photo was captured near the Orange River, below the Vanderkloof Dam wall, South Africa. It shows the South African traditional fishers using "kraals" (stone walls to trap fish). The Orange River flows from the Lesotho Mountains, westwards and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. In the mid-section of the Orange River, it flows through an arid country, also known as the Great Karoo. It is along here that a traditional kraal fishery is practised. Kraal is an Afrikaans word. In the old days, when the settlers were ‘trekking” across the country, they would circle their wagons (a kraal) in the evenings to protect themselves from the local inhabitants that did not appreciate this expansionism.
The kraal fishers build low stone walls in a circular shape (a kraal) on the banks of the river. Water from the dam is released daily, to generate electricity, which causes the water level in the river to fluctuate. When the river rises, it floods the kraals, and when it drops, fish in the kraals get trapped. Although this dam was built relatively new (in 1976), there are historical records from journals of early travellers (dating back over 150 years) that describe a very similar method of fishing along the Orange River.
Photo credit and Contributor: Qurban A. Rouhani, 2017
V2V Photo of the Week: November 17, 2021
This photo was captured in Pongwe, Zanzibar island. It shows the moment when seaweed farmers and a researcher prepare the seedlings for setting seaweed farms. In Zanzibar, seaweed farming is second only to the tourism industry in terms of foreign exchange earnings. Moreover, during high tides, seaweeds are like underwater gardens and act as potential habitats for fish. The livelihoods of the coastal communities of Zanzibar are historically sustained by small-scale fisheries, seaweed farming, and small-scale agriculture. The income generated by seaweed farming has enabled farmers to improve their standards of living. However, recent changes in environmental conditions are threatening this industry and the practices around it. As a result, seaweed is getting afflicted by diseases like ice-ice and epiphyte infestations and which is causing a decline in productivity. Some farmers, especially men, are leaving seaweed farming while others, mostly women, are carrying on with lower expectations.
Photo credit: Seif Said, 2019
Contributor: Batuli Mohammed Yahya
V2V Photo of the Week: November 10, 2021
This photo was captured on Banggi Island (Malay: Pulau Banggi) in Tun Mustapha Marine Park, Malaysia. It shows a fisher on his canoe using the handline method to catch fish. In this technique, an individual fisher deploys a single line and hook from his vessel. When a fish bites, the fisher hauls it in by hand. Once landed on the vessel, the fish is usually put on ice to maintain freshness. This type of fishing usually takes at least 3 to 4 hours per voyage. Small-scale fishers of Tun Mustapha Park face many issues, such as being in the Malaysia’s lowest-income group despite the various government policies and programs introduced over the past 40 years to improve their livelihoods. Climate change is another factor that affects the socio-economic condition of small-scale fishers negatively. The weather unpredictability has increased in recent times, and is causing few fishing days therefore less income for fishers.
Photo credit: WWF-Malaysia / Marine Programme, 2018
Contributor: Athena Kimberly Sipaun
V2V Photo of the Week: November 03, 2021
This photo was captured at the Marsaxlokk fishing harbor in Malta. It shows a young fisher preparing the trammel nets, locally known as “Parit”. This is usually set at 4 or 5 p.m. and pulled out at sunrise, around 6 a.m. “Kajjik” is also seen in the photo beside the young fisher. “Kajjik” is a traditional Maltese fishing boat that is used for boat trips, usually in the summer season when a high number of tourists visit the harbour. The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA) in Malta is responsible for facilitating the diversification of the fishing sector. In collaboration with PERICLES, DFA has aided in the development of a phone application that includes audio guides for boat trips.
Photo credit and Contributor: Margherita Arnaut, 2021
V2V Photo of the Week: October 27, 2021
This photo was captured in Scotts Head, Dominica. It depicts spearfished Lionfish caught for dining purpose. Having no natural predator on the reef, lionfish eat or starve out local fish and eventually damages the ecological balance of coral reef ecosystems. Considering the rapid growth in the population of Lionfish, the fishing and tourism industries of the Caribbean Sea (that depend on coral reefs) may also be at risk. In light of the aforementioned threat, it has been realized that spear-fishing lionfish comes as a sustainable way not only for food needs but also for preventing the coral reefs from being destroyed. It takes about one hour time for a group of five divers to catch 10-15 lionfish with the use of spearguns. Then they normally grill them or make Ceviche (South American seafood dish). Fishers believe lionfish became invasive in the Caribbean after Hurrican Andrew destroyed a Florida aquarium in the 90s.
Photo credit and Contributor: Maria Bernadette Battaglia, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: October 20, 2021
This photo was captured during the field surveys conducted as part of IIT Kharagpur sponsored ISIRD project resulting into the publication of Blue Infrastructures. The location is East Calcutta Wetlands in India. The photo shows the bamboo sluice gate used by fishers during the pond preparation stage to prevent the entry of wild fish species and to regulate sewage. When sewage enters the feeder canals (connected to the waste stabilization ponds) from the primary municipal canal, it flows through bamboo sluice. The gates are locally designed and innovated to regulate the flow of effluent.
Water hyacinth is grown in the ponds for protecting the dykes from waves and for providing shelter to fish species when the temperature is too high. Moreover, hyacinth roots absorb metal ions and facilitate leaching of heavy metals out of water. The use of hyacinth as a purification agent is a traditional practice pursued by many generations of fishers in the EKW.
Photo credit and Contributor: Jenia Mukherjee, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: October 13, 2021
This photo was captured during the field visit of doctoral research focused on social-ecological systems in small-scale fishing communities. The location is Ponta do Mel beach, Rio Grande do Norte on the Northeast coast of Brazil. The picture shows the moment when fishers are leaving their boats after the completion of their fishing trip in the sea. The photo demonstrates how catching fish is just the first part of the complex and multi-step value chain of small-scale fishery. Upon fishers’ arrival, landing helpers and first-level middlemen (seen here with his car) play their role in the subsequent steps of the value chain. While such an intricate value chain helps accommodate different people with versatile skill set in an impoverished setting, unfortunately it also decreases the profits significantly that would otherwise remain with fishers.
Photo credit and Contributor: Monalisa Rodrigues, 2016
V2V Photo of the Week: October 06, 2021
This photo was captured in Char Fasson, Bangladesh. It depicts a number of diesel-powered freezer trawlers that are very common in Bangladeshi coastal areas where ocean swells are frequent. The high bow of the boat helps to break the wave and a two-stroke small diesel engine helps in propelling it. Contrary to what the name suggests, these boats do not have freezers. Instead, they contain large insulated coolers with factory-bought ice. The ice lasts about 15 days, which is the typical length of the fishing trip these boats are used for. The fishers that use these boats use nylon fishing nets whose size and thickness are mandated by the government to prevent overfishing. In order to maximize their profits with their limited storage space, they mainly target catching Hilsa fish as it has the highest-selling value.
Photo credit and Contributor: Syed Tauheed Raihan, 2020
V2V Photo of the Week: September 29, 2021
This photo was captured in Dionewar Island, Sine-Saloum, Fatick Region of Senegal. It depicts a pile of fish at a beach side fish market. Fishers often place their catch on the sand lying around in absence of a proper place to keep them during the trade. Fishing plays a key socio-economic role in the lives of Sine-Saloum people as their primary livelihood consists of fishing, processing fishery products, and related marketing activities. Other professionals in the Sine-Saloum region are also indirectly linked to fishing, namely, carpenters, outboard mechanics, fishing equipment salesmen, ice factory personnel, and fuel pump attendants.
Photo credit: IUPA (University Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture), UCAD (Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, 2020
Contributor: Fama Gueye
V2V Photo of the Week: September 15, 2021
This photo was captured in Ubatuba, São Paulo state, Brazil. It depicts Caiçara people attending a cultural event on the shore. Caiçaras are traditional people from the South and Southeast coast of Brazil, whose livelihoods are historically sustained by small-scale fisheries, small-scale agriculture, and hunting. Recently, with restrictions on hunting and the increase of tourism, their livelihoods have been impacted. The canoe races are an important contributor to their relational wellbeing, in which Caiçaras live their culture, discuss pressing political issues and enjoy their time with friends and family. For further information about the social and political contributions of canoe races to the wellbeing of traditional people, please read the following article:
Dias, A. C., & Armitage, D. (2021). Ecosystems, communities and canoes: Using Photovoice to understand relationships among coastal environments and social wellbeing. Researching People and the Sea, 159–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59601-9_8
Photo credit and Contributor: Ana Carolina Esteves Dias, 2018
V2V Photo of the Week: September 15, 2021
This photo was captured in Char Dhularshar of Dhularshar Union, Kalapara Upazila, in Patuakhali district of Bangladesh. The photo was taken in 2019 when the government banned Hilsa fishing, transporting, and marketing for 22 days from October 9 - 30 to support safe breeding of Hilsa. It shows small-scale fishers inspecting their boats during the Hilsa ban period. To adapt to the fishing ban and the resulting in common livelihood loss, fisher families diversify their livelihoods through alternative income-generating activities, which are usually low-paid and not adequate to address their needs. Besides, because of lack of other skill sets, the fishers generally are not able to diversify their livelihood effectively during the Hilsa ban period. As a result, they also rely on other fish species, which have no market values, to support their families.
Photo credit and Contributor: Sabiha Ahmed Diba, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: September 8, 2021
This photo was captured on the Island of Dionwar, Senegal where main livelihood activities comprise fishing and processing of fishery products. The photo shows women of the island harvesting shellfish. They go on the mudflats and in the mangroves during low tide and collect the shellfish by hand or with the help of machetes. Then, they transport them to their villages, boil the shellfish, pick out the meat from the shell and leave them to dry. These women also capture crustaceans from the mudflats and collect mollusks from the mangroves. Harvesting of shellfish is carried out with the help of rudimentary tools in difficult conditions with little to no attention to the physical and mental health of the workers involved. Women use small and non-motorized canoes to navigate the waters in search of fish-rich areas. Since canoes can only cover a small area in a certain time period, productive capacity remains low and so does the income made out of it.
Photo credit: Alassane Sarr (Director of L’Institut Universitaire de Pêche et d’Aquaculture (IUPA)) - UCAD, 2020
Contributor: Fatou Gueye
V2V Photo of the Week: September 1, 2021
This photo was captured in the Inatori fishing community, Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. A Kinme (Splendid Alfonsino) fisher and his wife are landing the fish. Inatori is a traditional small-scale fishing community with a 5,546 population (2020), well-known for its Kinme fishery. Kinme is more than just an essential fish species for Inatori; it is a highly esteemed resource for tourism and has served as the economic and cultural backbone of the area for a long time. As key financial drivers of the community, Kinme fishers have developed and maintained a close relationship with the community over the years, and have come to be known as the “Kinme Bosses.” A folk song in their honor was composed in 2009. Today, this song is widely performed and danced to by the local townspeople, demonstrating just how important the fishery is to the community. Despite their locally celebrated status, however, the Kinme Bosses have recently been met by challenges, such as resource decline, and conflict with recreational fisheries.
For more details, please refer to Kinme Boss facing double trouble in Japan (Yinji Li, 2020). This photo is also the official photo of the 4th World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress Asia-Pacific: Building Forward Better!
Photo credit: Inatori Branch of Izu Fisheries Cooperative Association, 2018
Contributor: Yinji Li
V2V Photo of the Week: Aug 25, 2021
This photo was captured during the Chilika Field School 2019 in Satapada, Chilika, India. The picture shows stake nets (locally known as “khanda jaals”), one of the most frequently used fishing gear for traditional fishing technique in the outer channel of the Chilika Lagoon. These types of nets have a long vertical wall of netting held by a line of wooden poles extending from the shore towards the lagoon. The purpose of such nets is to interrupt the natural route of fish and direct them towards a series of traps away from the shore. The stake net areas get leased seasonally to small-scale fishers. These nets do not harm the dolphin population, unlike gill nets. In fact, they create positive interactions between Irrawaddy dolphins and small-scale fishers of the Chilika lagoon.
Photo credit and Contributor: Aishwarya Pattanaik, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: Aug 18, 2021
This photo was captured during a doctoral research focused on small-scale fishing communities in Brazil. The picture shows thousands of flying fish drying in the open air after being gutted. The location is Caiçara do Norte, known as one the main places for flying fish fishing in Brazil. In recent years, capturing flying fish has become a key activity for the fishing community of the region due to the harvest of flying fish roe (a popular garnish for sushi). However, this is not a reliable source of livelihood as the fishers only get a tiny fraction of the roe's harvest profits. For instance, in 2019, the kilogram of roe was sold by the fishers for R$10 (Brazilian Real currency) to the middlemen, but it reached a sale value of 15 times greater when sold to the final consumers.
Photo credit and Contributor: Monalisa Rodrigues, 2016
V2V Photo of the Week: Aug 11, 2021
This week we are busy with our V2V - Chilika Virtual Field School 2021 that has brought together about 50 participants and 25 resource persons, including speakers and facilitators representing more than 23 countries and over 45 institutions. The topic of this year’s field school is “Rethinking Coastal Sustainability and Development”, and we are focusing on the task of rethinking on one particular aspect of coastal sustainability and development (i.e., theory / concepts / knowledge; action / advocacy; policy; and practice) each day. We bring this photo collage as our “V2V Photo of the Week” to highlight the contributions being made by numerous individuals through sharing their knowledge and experience on issue of development and sustainability, and the amazing participants that are not just learners but active advocates of social and policy change for a better future of our oceans, coasts and the people who depend on them. We at V2V Global Partnership hope that this photo of the week will continue to inspire us in building strong small-scale fisheries communities around the world.
Photo credit: Sevil Berenji, 2021
Contributors: Prateep Kumar Nayak, Ana Carolina Esteves Dias, Sevil Berenji
V2V Photo of the Week: Aug 04, 2021
As we are preparing for the V2V - Chilika Virtual Field School 2021, which is scheduled to start on the 7th of August, we are motivated to share a few images from our past Chilika Fields School 2019. The photos show the themes (through the banner) discussed by the participants while in the field school classroom, the multiple community engagements and interactions with fisher villages, preparing to venture out to the rough waters near where the Chiliak Lagoon meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, and the unforgettable experience of being on a country boat - all for being able to see the world from a somewhat different perspective. The difference between a virtual and an in-person field school is tremendous but choosing the former over the latter this year is an obvious (even though forced) choice when the entire world is grappling with the impacts of the COVID pandemic. We believe that these photos from our previous field school will inspire us to stay motivated and wait patiently for a future in-person field school, hopefully in August 2022.
Photo credit and Contributor: Prateep Kumar Nayak, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: July 28, 2021
This photo was captured during a field visit to the fishers of Pati Regency in Central Java Province, Indonesia. This photo depicts a graduate student conducting interviews with key informants to analyze how small scale-fishers in the region use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool in fishing to combat the effects/impacts of climate change. According to the findings of this study, fishers of this region believe that ICT is both necessary and beneficial in fishing. Although most fishers still rely on their conventional knowledge gained through many years of experience in fishing (known as ilmu titen locally) to assess the status of the sea, some fishers utilize ICT during their fishing operations, such as using GPS to record the coordinates of promising fishing locations within sea. They also use their phones to communicate with other fishers and share information on fishing grounds and fish prices. Fishers also use apps like Nelayan Pintar and Windy from the Google Play Store, as well as the BMKG website, to predict weather, sea waves, and wind speed.
Photo credit and Contributor: Ika Suciati, 2020
V2V Photo of the Week: July 21, 2021
This photo was captured during a field visit to the fishers of Arakhakud, an ethnic village in the Krushnaprasad block of Puri district in Chilika Lagoon, situated on the eastern coast of peninsular India in the Bay of Bengal. According to the village elders, the village settlement is located on one of the sand dunes called Arakhakuda and the small-scale fisheries traditions of the village and its adjoining areas go back to one thousand years. This is the same village where once existed the historical sea mouth between the Chilika Lagoon and the Bay of Bengal operating between Manikapatna and Arakhakuda villages until about the early part of the seventeenth century. The sea mouth has now moved several miles away from this village creating serious concerns to the fishing culture and society that once relied on its very existence.
Photo credit and Contributor: Sarmistha Pattanaik, 2018
V2V Photo of the Week: July 14, 2021
The photo was captured in Dattapara village, Lahiripur, Sundarbans, West Bengal state of India. Dattapara is a small village, located in the island of Satjelia and is inhabited by small-scale fishers, who either fish on the forested river creeks of Sundarbans, or practice aquaculture in their village. The photo depicts the biggest aquaculture pond in the village, which has been taken on lease by more than 50 fishers from the same village. A significant quantity of fish is cultured in this pond. The small hut seen in the picture is commonly known as 'alaghar'. A person allocated from the village is posted in the ‘alaghar’ to keep a watch on the fishery.
Photo credit and Contributor: Amrita Sen, 2017
V2V Photo of the Week: July 07, 2021
This photo was taken in the Karang Jeruk Conservation, Munjung Agung village, Tegal district, Central Java province, Indonesia. It depicts fishers at the port repairing their fishing gears. Tegal Regency in Central Java province of Indonesia has maintained a remarkable contribution to the fisheries production of the country. It is important to note that small-scale fisheries dominate the fisheries sector in Tegal Regency, where the majority of fishers own Jukung (a small wooden Indonesian outrigger canoe), 3-5 GT vessels, and a few fishers own above 5GT boats.
Photo credit and Contributor: Hapsari Ayu Kusumawardhani, 2020
V2V Photo of the Week: June 30, 2021
These photos are photo collages from the screenshots taken during the V2V sessions at the Centre for Maritime Research (MARE) 2021 People & the Sea Conference. The theme of the conference is ‘Limits to Blue Growth?’ V2V Global Partnership has a huge presence at this year’s MARE conference with more than sixty of its members including researchers, policy and non-government representatives, early-career researchers and graduate students from about twenty countries presenting papers and participating in the deliberations. Enthusiastic engagement of the V2V Global Partnership members in the MARE conference exemplifies their passion for realizing the process of Vulnerability to Viability” in small-scale fisheries communities and exploring critically the many dimensions of blue growth.
Photo credit and Contributor: Vulnerability to Viability Global Partnership, 2021
V2V Photo of the Week: June 23, 2021
This photo was taken in Payagala, a small coastal town located in Kalutara district, the western province of Sri Lanka. The photo depicts a family-run dried fish operation of tuna fish caught by multi-day fishing boats, which are salted and sun-dried on the beach. Once dried, the fish is destined for a domestic wholesale market. Dried tuna fish (locally known as ‘Bala karawala’) makes a much-loved dish that complements the rice-based local diet. Salting and sun drying of fish is a crucial livelihood activity that has supported the wellbeing of Sri Lankan coastal communities for generations.
Photo credit: W.C. Hiroshini (A Research Assistant in Ocean University of Sri Lanka who was recruited by Madu Galappaththi, A PhD scholar, to conduct in-person field interviews with dried fish processors), 2021
Contributor: Madu Galappaththi
V2V Photo of the Week: June 16, 2021
This photo was taken in Berhampur Island of Chilika Lagoon in India just three months after the category 5 Cyclone Fani hit the region. The livelihoods of the fishers were endangered under the impact of the cyclone, and it caused a series of devastations in the fishing communities. The cyclone affected basic amenities, such as drinking water, food supply, shelter, health, sanitation, electricity and telecommunication services. The fishing communities came together to respond to the impacts from Fani indicating strong community resilience and motivations to stay viable during adverse times. The Chilika Lagoon and Bay of Bengal region receives at least one major cyclone every alternate year and multiple other cyclonic storms every year.
Photo credit and Contributor: Aishwarya Pattanaik, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: June 09, 2021
The photo was captured in Sagar Island, Sundarbans, West Bengal state of India. It depicts a fisher family that uses a Styrofoam board (Bengali: Shol) for fishing. A small motor is attached to the bottom part of the board for riding it by overcoming the waves coming toward the shore. A long rope holds the board from the shore and prevents it from getting lost inside the water. The Styrofoam board is used as an alternative fishing tool by those who can't afford to own a basic fishing boat.
Photo credit and Contributor: Sevil Berenji, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: June 02, 2021
This photo was taken in northern Malaita, the most populous province in Solomon Islands, Oceania. Small-scale fishing forms an important part of the livelihoods of many Malaitans. This photo depicts community members and WorldFish staff working together during a workshop on community-based resource management. The Solomon Islands National Fisheries Policy prioritises community-based approaches to coastal fisheries management (CBRM). WorldFish supports the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources in its strategy with research to improve coastal fisheries sustainability and benefits in Solomon Islands through action research, training and outreach. Jessica Blythe, V2V Global Partnership co-applicant and researcher, and Daykin Harohau are also seen in the photo working with the WorldFish Centre and SSF community members in Solomon Islands on community-based fisheries resource management plans. For more information please visit: https://fish.cgiar.org/publications/community-based-resource-management-malaita-province
Photo credit: Grace Orirana
Contributor: Jessica L. Blythe
V2V Photo of the Week: May 26, 2021
This photo was taken in Karimunjawa Village, located in Karimunjawa Islands, Java province, Indonesia. Most residents here depend on farming or fishing for their Livelihoods. Fishing gear commonly used by Karimunjawa fishers include shallow-water nets, deep water nets, spears, spearguns/arrows, and traps. Even though local residents primarily identify as fishers here, there has been a transition in local livelihoods from fishers to tourist guides.
Photo credit and Contributor: Simar Kaur, 2018
V2V Photo of the Week: May 19, 2021
This photo depicts fishers at Bhola, the largest coastal island in Bangladesh, being interviewed on the double impacts of Covid-19 and the 60-day fishing ban. This fishing ban was effective from March 1 to April 30, 2020, which also coincided with the Covid-19 ban from March 25 to May 31st, 2020. The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock imposed the ban in a bid to protect Ilish fry- also known as jatka. To compensate the fishermen during this ban, the government allocated 40 kg of rice to fishermen who had fisher ID cards. There are 132,000 registered fishermen in the Bhola district but only half of them are eligible for this rice. Study findings show a strong need for diversified alternate livelihoods for these fishing communities.
Photo credit and Contributor: Mizanur Rahman, 2020
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V2V Photo of the Week: May 12, 2021
This photo was taken in the fishing village in Setiu district, Malaysia. The local fishers use the river (Setiu River) to go fishing in the sea approximately 4 km away from the village. The majority of fishers use small fiberglass boats (locally called sampan), which are fitted with an average of 25 horsepower outboard engines. A variety of fishing gears are used within this community, such as hand lines, long lines, traps, gill nets, and drift nets. The picture was taken during our study in 2013.
Photo credit and Contributor: Gazi Md Nurul Islam
V2V Photo of the Week: May 5, 2021
This photo was taken during field research on Nori-seaweed aquaculture at Hamana, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Local fishers can be seen adjusting the seaweed culture net. Lake Hamana takes pride in being the oldest in Japan as a Nori-seaweed aquaculture ground.
Photo credit and Contributor: Yinji Li, 2018
V2V Photo of the Week: April 28, 2021
This picture was taken in the Tegal Barat District, Tegal City, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Ongoing research efforts in this area include enhancing food security by building fish products to strengthen small-scale Fisheries. Specific research areas incorporate market performance analysis of SSF, food safety identification for fish quality, strategy building for achieving viability through food security, and analyzing community response to food safety.
Photo Credit and Contributor: Aini Nur Furoida
V2V Photo of the Week: April 21, 2021
This picture taken on Fårö island (Gotland) shows one of the hundreds of boats abandoned in the backyards of Swedish rural houses along the Baltic Sea coast. Ecological changes such as eutrophication, ecosystems shifts, and rising populations of seals together with hostile regulations and policies that result from considering the small-scale fishery as old-fashioned or unprofitable and favored the large-scale fishery sector, have contributed to a sharp decrease in the number of small-scale fishers in this area over the last decades. As the fishers say “soon there will be no more small-scale fishers left here”; scraping a boat is too painful but coastal fishing is not an option anymore.
Photo Credit and Contributor: Milena Arias Schreiber, 2020
V2V Photo of the Week: April 14, 2021
This photo depicts the process of drying “Chewa” fish in Nijhim Dwip, a newly formed remote island in the southernmost part of Bangladesh. Here, residents primarily rely on fisheries as their primary source of income. They specifically fish a particular species called Hilsa, which has a similar life cycle to that of a North-American Salmon. Hilsa is culturally important making it economically very alluring for fishermen. There are other bycatches but due to the small fishing boats, they have to be economical with the storage. That is why these small-scale fisheries focus on the most profitable catch. During the winter months, the local fishers switch to “Chewa fish” - the scientific name being Taenioides Cirratus. They sell these at the market or dry them up to increase their value or grind them up for the commercial fish feed.
Photo Credit and Contributor: Syed Tauheed Raihan, 2021
V2V Photo of the Week: April 7, 2021
This photo which was taken at Marsaxlokk fishing harbour in Malta features a trammel net fisher who is discussing the difficulties faced in this fishing sector, specifically the unfair competition. The photo features a “Kajjik”, a traditional Maltese wooden vessel. In 2021, the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA) implemented the Boat Restoration Scheme which entails the provision of financial assistance to part-time and full-time boat owners that own a traditional Maltese wooden vessel. The implementation of this scheme was deemed necessary by the DFA as the maintenance costs of wooden vessels are substantially higher than those associated with vessels made from fiberglass.
Photo credit and Contributor: Margherita Arnaut, 2021
V2V Photo of the Week: March 31, 2021
This photo shows a woman gathering seaweed on foot in Finistère district, Brittany, France. In 2008, this informal activity became formal and seaweed gatherers, women and men, gained access to the social security system (health and retire pension) and to regional fishers’ organisations through their own Union. Seaweed gatherers are now participating in resource management. Work is currently taking place on the following issues: gender division of labor and participation of gatherers in the resources management. A Series of videos “People and the Sea in Brittany” in French can be found here.
Photo credit and Contributor: Katia Frangoudes, 2021
V2V Photo of the Week: March 24, 2021
Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprise the richest coral reefs in the Indian Ocean and globally, an area of significant flora and fauna biodiversity. These islands are home to one of the world’s last surviving populations of indigenous peoples, who have the knowledge, the traditions, and the cultural wealth to truly live-in harmony with nature. Rites and festivities were an important part of the daily life of the Nicobarese. The image shows the inhabitants of Chowra celebrating their annual Panuohonot (or pig festival) to commemorate their ancestors.
Photo credit and Contributor: Simron J. Singh, 2006
V2V Photo of the Week: March 17, 2021
This photo shows fishing boats and one of the many different gear types used by small-scale fishers in the Tam Giang-Cau Hai Lagoon, Vietnam. This lagoon covers approximately 22,000 hectares and is about 70 km long. Some 300,000 people live in and around the lagoon with an estimated 100,000 people directly dependent on small-scale capture fisheries and various forms of brackish water aquaculture.
Photo Credit and Contributor: Derek Armitage
V2V Photo of the Week: March 10, 2021
This photo was taken during doctoral research about social-ecological systems in small-scale fishing communities on the Brazilian NE coast. This photo shows the fishing crew preparing a raft to start their fishing trip. This type of raft is one of the most commonly used vessels in the region (Rio Grande do Norte, NE Brazil). Despite their small size, these rafts carry a crew of 2-3 fishers, their gear, usually hook and line and/or gillnet, water, and food. Fishers may stay at the sea for up to three days, returning home with groupers, tunas, snappers, and mackerels.
Photo credit and Contributor: Monalisa Rodrigues
V2V Photo of the Week: March 3, 2021
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This photo depicts nomadic fishers in the Meghna River estuary, Bhola, Bangladesh. Fishery-dependent nomads achieve material, subjective, and relational wellbeing from the hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) fishery and from other small-scale fisheries in the Meghna River system. There are strong indications that nomadic small-scale fisheries have an important role in the local economy that benefits both nomadic fishers and local land-based groups. In nomadic fishing communities, women are active fishers with relevant skills. Their involvement in fishing helps them to exercise considerable control over decision-making and to provide them space agency.
Photo credit and Contributor: Mohammad Mahmudul Islam
V2V Photo of the Week: February 24, 2021
This photo was taken in 2020 at the Kaseni landing site in Ukerewe Island, Lake Victoria Tanzania. It portrays a typical example of the activities that take place at landing sites. Fishers are preparing to go to the lake while traders are buying fish from fishers who have landed.
Photo credit and Contributor: Joseph Luomba, 2020
V2V Photo of the Week: February 17, 2021
This photo was taken in Pipa/Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil. Pipa is the most important tourist destination in the region. Although declining, fisheries are still part of this village’s economic portfolio. As tourism advances, fishers have become more withdrawn. This picture represents the day when they finally accepted to be photographed, while they were having an informal meeting.
Photo credit and Contributor: Maíra Manzan, 2011
V2V Photo of the Week: February 10, 2021
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Fishing people often talk fondly about their fishing life, including how they enjoy being on the water, and sometimes in solitude. This picture, taken in the south of Thailand, gives us a glimpse of what they may be talking about. What a joy it must be, to soak in the beauty of their surrounding, while heading out to sea for their daily catch. A small-scale fishing way of life is full of meanings and values that are beyond what can be quantified. Here, fishing seems like a peaceful way of life, and that is how it should always be if we are able to secure access to space and resources for small-scale fishers and their communities. Small is certainly beautiful!
Photo credit and Contributor: Ratana Chuenpagdee, 2009
V2V Photo of the Week: February 3, 2021
This photo was taken by Aliou Sall, fisheries socio-anthropologist, in April 2019 on the sidelines of a mission he was carrying out about social protection in SSF on behalf of the FAO. It focuses on the artisanal fishing community of Guet Ndar, Senegal, which concentrates the overwhelming majority of the SSF community at the scale of the site chosen for the Senegal case study. The main message that the photographer wants to convey here is that SSF, for such a community as for the other part of the case study could never be isolated from its socio-cultural context and reduced to exclusively economic activity. Indeed, the photo illustrates that it is difficult to delineate a boundary between housing units and operating units.
Photo credit and Contributor: Aliou Sall, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: January 27, 2021
This photo was submitted for a Photovoice activity conducted by Ana Carolina to understand how coastal ecosystems provide wellbeing to communities. This participant wanted to document the preparation of the net, a traditional fishing gear used collectively by local fishers. The participant states: "This preparation of the gear is the most important for the success of fishing. But, it seems less important because fishers, instead of being too concentrated and serious, are putting their whole heart into it. They are playing and laughing as if it were a late afternoon conversation, without worry or stress. We see people are working for love." (Dias and Armitage)
Photo credit: A young woman from Picinguaba Community, Ubatuba, SP, Brazil, 2018
Contributor: Ana Carolina Esteves Dias
V2V Photo of the Week: January 20, 2021
This photo shows fishing boats in Chilika Lagoon, situated along the eastern coastline of Odisha, India. It is one of our V2V case study areas, which is recognized as a Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance in 1981 for its rich biodiversity. This is Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon that contributes to the livelihood and culture of over 400,000 fishers. My ongoing thesis explores the water quality issues in Chilika Lagoon and the photograph depicts many hidden stories of marginalisation of small-scale fishing communities.
Photo Credit and Contributor: Navya Vikraman Nair, 2019
V2V Photo of the Week: January 13, 2021
The Perhentian Island is located in the South China Sea, 21 km off the mainland of Peninsular Malaysia, in the State of Terengganu. There is a small village of approximately 10 ha in an area called Kampung Pasir Hantu situated on Perhentian. Marine protected areas (MPA) have been established on Perhentian island since 1990, with fishing activities prohibited within two nautical miles from the coastline. Massive infrastructural development has taken place in the marine park over the last decade to promote tourism activities.
Photo credit and Contributor: Gazi Md Nurul Islam, 2016
V2V Photo of the Week: January 6, 2021
The photo above shows the traditional fishing boat found in Cox's Bazar District in southeastern Bangladesh end. They are called the 'Chand Nouka' which translates to Moon Boat and they are the traditional fishing boat of the Artisanal fishermen here. The fishermen sail out to the open sea with the tide and return the next day with the tide. This boat is quite distinct and rare and only found in this region of the Bay of Bengal. Its shape is due to the need for fishermen to cross the sandy barrier located a few hundred meters from the shore.
Photo credit and Contributor: Samiya Ahmed Selim, 2020