Accounting for local categorizations and classifications of fish: Towards a food-centred governance of small-scale fisheries in coastal Kenya

Abstract

Burdened with food insecurity and inadequate nutrition, countries in the Global South have ample margins to benefit from more consideration for fish and aquatic foods for better nutrition. This article proposes the case of Kenyan coastal fisheries as a potentially crucial reservoir of food-related benefits for the poor and local communities, provided that a food-centred lens or approach are mainstreamed in local and national governance. Borrowing insights from post-structuralist maritime social sciences, and with evidence from the two coastal communities of Shimoni and Watamu, this article presents an ethnographic account of grassroots practices in-the-making such as handling, sorting, and allocating fish once caught, and how these practices lead to local categorizations and classifications of fish. This sort of evidence and knowledge around local categorizations and classifications of fish enables to delve into questions of access, availability, affordability, and agency that are crucial for a nutrition-sensitive approach to governance of fisheries. Through the analysis of the two different locations of Watamu and Shimoni in terms of the fisheries economy and overall development, the analysis of these categories and classifications highlights the necessity to account for a fairer access and distribution rather than solely production (of fish) that is overly market-oriented or exported.