Livelihoods

Capture fisheries in small island developing states (SIDS) have the capacity to increase access to vital micronutrient-rich food to tackle malnutrition, but when fishers are restricted to nearshore habitats by limited capacity (boats, engines, fishing gear), fisheries production can be low. This is the case of coastal Timor-Leste, where some of the world’s most diverse coral reefs are juxtaposed with one of the world’s most undernourished populations.

Improving livelihoods and livelihood opportunities is a popular thrust of development investments. Gender and other forms of social differentiation influence individual agency to access, participate in, and benefit from existing, new, or improved livelihood opportunities. Recent research illustrates that many initiatives intended to improve livelihoods still proceed as “gender blind,” failing to account for the norms and relations that will influence how women and men experience opportunities and outcomes.

FISH made significant progress during 2018 in producing and disseminating a suite of research innovations for the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture across Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

This report details the current knowledge and available data on the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in Timor-Leste.

This study, funded by the German government and in partnership with an international research institute as well as the government department responsible for fish farming in Zambia, collected quantitative and qualitative data that aimed to provide a holistic view of the livelihoods of smallholder fish farmers in the country. A total of 151 fish farming households were surveyed and an additional 46 qualitative interviews were collected with a selected variety of fish farmers.

In 2018, WorldFish made notable progress toward our ambition to position fish firmly at the heart of discourse, policy and practice currently shaping the global thinking on transforming food systems, paying closer attention to nutrition and healthier diets and informing the path toward an inclusive and sustainable blue economy. Our achievements in 2018 are highlighted in this annual report.