Urban Amazonians use Fishing as a Strategy for Coping with Food Insecurity. Issue 12 (2nd December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rivero, Sergio L. M.; Almeida, Oriana Trindade de; Torres, Patricia Carignano; de Moraes, Andre; Chacón-Montalván, Erick; Parry, Luke
• Is Part Of: Journal of development studies. Volume 58:Issue 12(2022)
• Page Start: 2544
• Page End: 2565
• Publication Date: 2022-12-02
• Subjects: Towns -- capture fisheries -- safety net -- diet -- natural resources; Economic development -- Periodicals; Economic history -- 1945- -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals; Développement économique -- Périodiques; Histoire économique -- 1945- -- Périodiques; Pays en voie de développement -- Conditions économiques -- Périodiques; 338.91
• DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2022.2113063
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0388

Abstract

Abstract: Fishing provides livelihoods and food for millions of people in the Global South yet inland fisheries are under-researched and neglected in food and nutrition policy. This paper goes beyond the rural focus of existing research and examines how urban households may use fishing as a livelihood strategy for coping with food insecurity. Our study in Brazilian Amazonia is based on a random sample of households (n = 798) in four remote riverine towns. We quantitatively examine the inter-connections between fishing and food insecurity, and find that fishing is a widespread coping strategy among disadvantaged, food insecure households. Fisher households tend to be highly dependent on eating fish, and for these households, consuming fish more often is associated with a modest reduction in food insecurity risks. Fishing provides monthly non-monetary income worth ≤ USD54 (equivalent to ∼12% of mean monetary income), potentially reducing food insecurity risks almost as much as the conditional cash transfer Bolsa Família. We estimate that nearly half a million inhabitants of the region's remote, riverine urban centres are directly dependent on a household member catching fish, a nutritious and culturally preferred food. Consequently, small-scale urban fishers must be recognised in policy debates around food and nutrition security and management of natural resources.