Proximity to small-scale inland and coastal fisheries is associated with improved income and food security

Fiona A Simmance; Gianluigi Nico; Simon Funge-Smith; Xavier Basurto; Nicole Franz; Shwu J Teoh; Kendra A Byrd; Jeppe Kolding; Molly Ahern; Philippa J Cohen; Bonface Nankwenya; Edith Gondwe; John Virdin; Sloans Chimatiro; Joseph Nagoli; Emmanuel Kaunda; Shakuntala H Thilsted; David J Mills

doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00496-5

Proximity to small-scale inland and coastal fisheries is associated with improved income and food security

Commun Earth Environ. 2022;3(1):174. doi: 10.1038/s43247-022-00496-5. Epub 2022 Aug 3.

Authors

Fiona A Simmance^#¹, Gianluigi Nico^#², Simon Funge-Smith², Xavier Basurto³, Nicole Franz², Shwu J Teoh¹, Kendra A Byrd¹, Jeppe Kolding⁴, Molly Ahern², Philippa J Cohen¹, Bonface Nankwenya⁵, Edith Gondwe⁶, John Virdin³, Sloans Chimatiro⁵, Joseph Nagoli⁵, Emmanuel Kaunda⁶, Shakuntala H Thilsted¹, David J Mills^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ WorldFish, Penang, Malaysia.
² Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.
³ Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, USA.
⁴ University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁵ WorldFish, Lilongwe, Malawi.
⁶ Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe, Malawi.
⁷ Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Poverty and food insecurity persist in sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a secondary analysis of nationally representative data from three sub-Saharan Africa countries (Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda) to investigate how both proximity to and engagement with small-scale fisheries are associated with household poverty and food insecurity. Results from the analysis suggest that households engaged in small-scale fisheries were 9 percentage points less likely to be poor than households engaged only in agriculture. Households living in proximity to small-scale fisheries (average distance 2.7 km) were 12.6 percentage points more likely to achieve adequate food security and were 15 percentage points less likely to be income poor, compared to the most distant households. Households distant from fishing grounds (>5 km) were 1.5 times more likely to consume dried fish compared to households living close. Conserving the flow of benefits from small-scale fisheries is important for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals in the region.

Keywords: Ecosystem services; Environmental economics; Environmental studies; Socioeconomic scenarios; Sustainability.