Can fishing communities escape marginalisation? Comparing overfishing, environmental pressures and adaptation in Thailand and the Philippines

Abstract

In this article, we compare four fishing‐based areas in Thailand and the Philippines to examine if and how small‐scale fishing communities are able to escape marginalisation. Three questions guide our inquiry: (i) How have fishing communities been affected by overfishing, climate change and other pressures? (ii) What adaptive strategies have these communities employed to mitigate socio‐economic and environmental challenges? (iii) What has been the impact of these strategies on (escaping) marginalisation? Through a survey of 393 fishing‐based households and semi‐structured interviews with 59 key informants we find an uneven mixture of drivers, strategies and impacts. Respondents varyingly attribute declining fish catch to illegal fishing, overfishing, population increase, climate change and pollution. The case studies illustrate various degrees of adaptive successes that result from integration of top‐down and bottom‐up initiatives, and availability and access to livelihood strategies. However, the impact of adaptive strategies on overcoming marginalisation remains meagre and constrained by, among others, the power of illegal and commercial fishing and the absence of integrated spatial planning. We call for policy interventions and further research that takes into account the integration of top‐down and bottom‐up institutions, and the multiple dimensions and spaces of the drivers that shape fisherfolk marginalisation.

Critical problems associated with climate change: a systematic review and meta-analysis of Philippine fisheries research

“…In fact, Miao (2018) posits that strategy developments such as this enable progress in the understanding of mitigating risks and vulnerabilities associated with climate change. Reviewed literature has discussed climate change adaption policies in the context of the gender dimension (Graziano et al 2018), at the community level (Andriesse et al 2020;Macusi et al 2020), and post-disaster recovery (Drury O'Neill et al 2019). These papers emphasized the need for strategic approaches laden on specific vulnerabilities in order to address the critical issues associated with climate change.…”

“…This theme is closely linked to community marginalization, which emerged as the last finding. From the papers reviewed, this theme pertains to how the issues in fisheries associated with climate change have also touched the belittling of women (Graziano et al 2018) and small-scale fishers (Andriesse et al 2020).…”

Resisting the coastal squeeze through village associations? Comparing environmental, organizational, and political challenges in Philippine seaweed‐growing communities

“…1. a substantial degree of financial literacy and planning capacities among the association leadership (see also Mariño et al, 2019), 2. enabling local and community politics and investment in relationships between members, 3. the presence of nonmarine livelihood options (see also Belton et al, 2017, p. 704, andAndriesse et al, 2020, pp. 9-10), and 4. the inclusion of resilience against climatological extremes in seaweed-growing projects.…”

Local divergence and obstacles to spur inclusive coastal development in Iloilo Province, the Philippines

“…One vulnerable group are fishers and their families. Not only is overfishing a major challenge, but fishing‐based households bear the brunt of typhoons and sea level rise, and such households occupy a lower rank in rural political economies, most notably when compared to rice smallholders (Andriesse et al., 2021; Andriesse & Lee, 2021). However, despite the relative decline of marine fishing in the face of the aquaculture boom, the number of fishers has not decreased.…”

“…In this way, I offer a grounded, preliminary longitudinal perspective on livelihood trajectories, and add to the body of knowledge on coastal governance. This is important since spatial diversity of fishing communities is known to be significant and fisherfolk and their households in coastal Southeast Asia continue to be marginalised (Andriesse et al., 2021; Cohen et al., 2019).…”