Recent Webinar: ‘Language is Power: How to talk about and act on “Blue Justice” for small-scale fisheries’

Speakers: Svein Jentoft, Milena Arias-Schreiber, and Ratana Chuenpagdee

On February 21st, TBTI Global organized a free interactive webinar in recognition of the World Day of Social Justice. The webinar discussed social justice based on the insights from the two recently published TBTI papers on Blue Justice. Both papers are open access. This webinar is part of the TBTI Blue Justice campaign that is calling for more conversations about issues affecting the vulnerable and marginalized people in the small fishing communities. Such actions should be especially encouraged during this year when we mark the International Year for Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022).

The first paper, written by Milena Arias Schreiber, Ratana Chuenpagdee and Svein Jentoft, titled “Blue Justice and the co-production of hermeneutical resources for small-scale fisheries”, is published in Marine Policy. This paper discusses the need for more conversation about social justice in order to rectify the marginalized and vulnerable situations that many small-scale fisheries people find themselves in. The study emphasizes the contribution of transdisciplinary research for providing such concepts and the potential role of social scientists and action researchers as a means for advancing the goal of Blue Justice for small-scale fisheries.

A research brief that summarizes the highlights from the paper by Arias Schreiber et al. and which includes a new glossary of concepts proposed to capture testimonial and hermeneutical injustices experienced by small-scale fisheries people, can be accessed here.

The second paper, "Interactive Learning and Governance Transformation for Securing Blue Justice for Small-Scale Fisheries", is written by Svein Jentoft and Ratana Chuenpagdee and published in Administration and Society. The authors argue that while strong and just institutions are imperative to securing sustainable small-scale fisheries, they are insufficient for obtaining justice. Justice, they stress, must be secured in the daily interactions between small-scale fisheries actors and other stakeholders, including governments, by means of interactive learning and involving governance transformation.

Below is a slide from the webinar presentation by Ratana Chuenpagdee, which details how the causes and opportunities for Blue Justice for Small-Scale Fisheries can be found in all three orders of governance.

Learn more & watch the webinar recording. More conversation about this will take place at the 4th World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress for North America, June 20-22, 2022. Join us in St. John’s to discuss how to make sure that Blue Justice is part of ‘Getting Blue Economy Right’ for small-scale fisheries in the North.