Urban Amazonians use Fishing as a Strategy for Coping with Food Insecurity

Sergio L. M. Rivero, Oriana Trindade de Almeida, Patricia Carignano Torres, Andre de Moraes, Erick Chacón-Montalván and Luke Parry

Journal of Development Studies, 2022, vol. 58, issue 12, 2544-2565

Abstract: Fishing provides livelihoods and food for millions of people in the Global South yet inland fisheries are under-researched and neglected in food and nutrition policy. This paper goes beyond the rural focus of existing research and examines how urban households may use fishing as a livelihood strategy for coping with food insecurity. Our study in Brazilian Amazonia is based on a random sample of households (n = 798) in four remote riverine towns. We quantitatively examine the inter-connections between fishing and food insecurity, and find that fishing is a widespread coping strategy among disadvantaged, food insecure households. Fisher households tend to be highly dependent on eating fish, and for these households, consuming fish more often is associated with a modest reduction in food insecurity risks. Fishing provides monthly non-monetary income worth ≤ USD54 (equivalent to ∼12% of mean monetary income), potentially reducing food insecurity risks almost as much as the conditional cash transfer Bolsa Família. We estimate that nearly half a million inhabitants of the region’s remote, riverine urban centres are directly dependent on a household member catching fish, a nutritious and culturally preferred food. Consequently, small-scale urban fishers must be recognised in policy debates around food and nutrition security and management of natural resources.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2022.2113063

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