Yrah the last week has been very eventful with news on PIPA and a new fishing index…
don’t know who to attribute this one other that twitter… let me know if you know the author please. But I feel like the one in the right
As per PIPA… while I could dwell on technicalities, and how the general management framework will maintain the tuna stocks and the standard 24nm exclusion zone for commercial fishing around all islands (VMS controlled) in Kiribati, and so on… one answer suffices for me:
"The notion that a group of privileged foreigner will know better what is best for iKiribati people was fundamental part of colonialism and thankfully finished on the 12 July 1979 with their independence" End of story!
As per the Index… I knew about it from a while ago (2019) since they wanted me involved and politely declined after a good and frank talk to them... and don’t get me wrong, they are nice and well intended people… no doubt
But my reaction to indexes is always based on 2 questions:
1- What’s the point? We all know what is wrong, we need help on how to fix it
and
2: How do you avoid being unfair?
Lets say just for an example:
Country A in Europe is rich and as a EEZ of 10 km2 and a budget for fisheries of 10 million that is 0.5% of their GDP, and 500 years of experience in bureaucracy. institutions and governments
Country B in the Pacific has a EEZ of 10000000 km2, a budget for fisheries of 1 million that is 10% of the GDP and was a colony until 1980, so has 40 years of experience in bureaucracy. institutions and governments
Who would you think will score better in any metrics based index?
Which bring me to back to question 1: What is the point?
Yes fisheries need more budgets, better management, better science, less subsidies, , better data, bla, blah... Tell me something new...
It feels like an echo chamber for people on phone keyboards about the collapse of world fisheries, the short-sightedness of Kiribati with PIPA... And so on... and all from 1000 dollar phones and lives in privilege
Chances are that the budget for the graphic design of most of those studies is more than the annual salary of the fisheries inspectors and observers I work with! And believe they do much more for sustainable fisheries than any index or report will ever do.
I'm just tired of well off people behind desks telling others working at the front end of fisheries (and mostly poorer than them) how shit they are at their jobs... how they are failing the world they care so much about (while their livelihood does not depend on fisheries)
Why the researchers for those publications and those that dismay about PIPA don't go and do something practical, bring a solution, get you hands dirty...
Even if I disagree with what whatever action they want to do... I prefer that, to any glossy and manicured studies, index or report that tell us stuff we know, but don’t bring new solutions or money to test them.
Ok... enough... sorry for the visceral reaction... is one of those days.