Abigail Bennett’s research while affiliated with Michigan State University and other places

Researchers and policymakers increasingly recognize the contribution of aquatic food systems, such as fisheries, to food security and nutrition. Yet governing fisheries for nutrition objectives is complicated by the multiple overlapping processes that shape availability and access to nutrients over time, including fishing sustainability, climate change, trade dynamics, and consumer preferences. Anticipating the impact of governance interventions to sustain or enhance nutritional benefits from fisheries entails accounting for these multiple interacting influences. We develop an analytical approach to link available data on aquatic foods production, nutrition, distribution, and potential climate impacts to evaluate the nutrition implications of fishery management and post-harvest allocation interventions. We demonstrate this approach using national and publicly available datasets for five case study countries: Peru, Chile, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, and Malawi. As examples, we evaluate the potential to enhance domestic supply of key nutrients to nutritionally-vulnerable populations by a) dynamically adjusting fishing effort in response to climate impacts on fish stocks, and b) retaining aquatic foods currently diverted via trade or foreign fishing. The results indicate substantial differences across countries in terms of anticipated climate change effects, with potential for substantially increased nutrition yield in Chile and Peru under adaptive management, vs. more modest yield increases in Indonesia. The impacts of post-harvest allocation policies related to foreign fishing, exports, fishing sector, and subnational trade also vary, with exports weighing heavily on nutrient availability in Sierra Leone. This methodological approach represents a step toward operationalizing calls to manage fisheries as part of national food and nutrient supplies, in light of climate change risks.

Extremely low greenhouse gas emissions are an overlooked environmental benefit of inland capture fisheries that complements their significant role in supporting livelihoods and food and nutrition security. Their avoided emissions can be calculated from the increased emissions from replacement animal protein sources, the most viable being livestock. "Attributional" avoided emissions refer to the value of current production, whereas "consequential" avoided emissions refer to the impacts of future changes through policy, management and investment that sustain or enhance inland fishery productivity, including through restoration. Low emissions from inland fisheries are due to the domination of small-scale, non-motorized operations with minimal energy used for transport and processing and minimal land-use change. Globally, inland fisheries currently avoid approximately 215 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually – around 3.5 percent of total livestock emissions – valued at about USD 20 billion per year based on current carbon prices, similar to their monetary value as food. Their relative role in national greenhouse gas balances depends on the level of fish production and total national emissions. Where significant inland fisheries occur, the attributional emissions avoided range from 3.5 percent to 17.1 percent of total national emissions in Asian nations like Viet Nam and Cambodia, respectively, and from 66.1 percent to 184.4 percent in African countries like the United Republic of Tanzania and Malawi, respectively. Despite these significant contributions, inland fisheries remain invisible in climate policy and carbon financing discussions. Recognizing their role in avoiding emissions is essential for fostering sustainable food systems, supporting ecosystem services, and advancing climate change mitigation efforts toward net-zero goals.

This paper presents an agenda for the future of gender research in small-scale fisheries (SSF). Building on expert insight from scholars who gathered during the 4th World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress Africa (4WSFC) with a synthesis of existing literature, we identify six topics that warrant future investigation in SSF, along with methodological considerations for addressing them. Research priorities include identifying pathways towards (1) equitable participation in governance and decision-making, (2) valuing all actors' contributions to aquatic food systems, (3) increasing access to financial services, (4) inclusive infrastructural development, (5) livelihood diversification and (6) reducing occupational health hazards. Several important methodological considerations include (i) using multiple methodologies, (ii) applying participatory methods, (iii) collecting gender-disaggregated data, (iv) integrating gender into a food systems approach in fisheries, (v) engaging an intersectional approach and (vi) operationalising equity.

For millennia humans have extracted biological and physical resources from the planet to sustain societies and enable the development of technology and infrastructure. Growth in the human population and changing consumption patterns have increased the human footprint on ecosystems and their biodiversity, including in fresh waters. Freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity face many threats and it is now widely accepted that we are in a biodiversity crisis. One means of protecting and restoring freshwater biodiversity is to better manage the exploitation of freshwater biota and aggregate resources (e.g., sand, gravel, and boulders). Here we outline the threats arising from such exploitation and identify response options to ensure that methods and levels of extraction are sustainable and allow recovery of over-exploited freshwater biodiversity and ecosystems. The guidance we provide will enable practitioners, policy-makers, and resource stewards to embrace effective, sustainable, and evidence-based approaches to resource extraction. Response options for managing species exploitation include strengthening assessment and reporting, using science-based approaches to reduce overexploitation and support recovery, embracing community engagement, and building or tightening legislation. Response options for managing exploitation of freshwater aggregate resources include reducing demand for harvest, strengthening governance, reporting, and monitoring of environmental impacts, and promoting the restoration of degraded ecosystems or compensating for losses. Diverse case studies highlight examples of where various management actions have been implemented in an effort to consider how they can be scaled up and adapted to other contexts. Managing exploitation will be a key aspect of broader initiatives needed to protect and restore freshwater biodiversity around the globe.