69
5 Livelihoods in the Context of Fisheries – A Governability Challenge
Employment and Livelihoods
Employment
Although my primary concern in this paper is with livelihoods in fi sheries, I also
reference employment as one way of emphasizing the material importance of
fi sheries and aquaculture globally. The distinction between employment and livelihoods is one of de fi nitional fullness and complexity; employment being the narrower term and livelihoods the richer one. Employment is an economic measure of
the jobs in different sectors of the economy, while livelihoods includes employment
but contextualizes it within a range of other considerations.
Employment in fi sheries does however require some further elaboration. Even as
a seemingly straightforward concept, the term has important quali fi cations.
Employment varies a great deal, for example straying far from the nine to fi ve norm
of work in industrial economies. Work at sea follows the rhythms of the seasons and
the ecosystem, which diverge from the regularities of calendar and clock time. Early
morning departures are the norm and work on board fi shing vessels often involves
long, gruelling hours of setting and hauling in gear and cleaning the catch and gear
afterwards. Shore work also follows a schedule that varies with the time of departure
and arrival of the boats, size of the catch, and the duties of provisioning, maintenance,
and marketing. The onshore-at sea division further re fl ects the gendered character of
employment in fi shing; men’s employment and women’s employment are usually of
a different nature with divergent forms of remuneration. The shore-sea distinction also
points to the linkages of employment in the fi sheries sector. The work of catching fi sh
is only the fi rst stage of employment in the fi sh chain and is generally only the smaller
part of employment generated by the sector. Employment multiples of fi ve to one are
normal in calculating the employment impact of fi shing (Béné 2006 ) .
As Béné ( 2006 ) points out, it is standard in treatments of small-scale fi sheries to
talk about the importance of fi sheries from an economic point of view. Fisheries are
said to generate high levels of employment and serve as an important economic
driver, particularly in developing countries. Béné ( 2006 ) goes on to note that when
these statements are subject to closer scrutiny, fi sheries only make relatively minor
contributions to national economies, with the exception of a few countries such as
Senegal. Nonetheless, fi sheries and aquaculture, particularly in their small-scale
forms, do offer direct and indirect employment for large numbers of people globally. Estimates of this number range from 29 to 100 million (Béné 2006 , 22–23).
According to global data compiled by the FAO ( 2009 ) , forty-three and a half million
people were directly employed in fi sheries and aquaculture in 2006. Of these, the
vast majority (86%) were in Asia and most (60%) only worked part-time (FAO
2006, 2009 , 23). While aquaculture provided only 8.6 million jobs in 2006, it is
growing faster than capture fi sheries employment, which has slowed considerably
and even gone into decline in countries like Japan and Norway (FAO 2009 , 23–25).
When dependents are included, the signi fi cance of employment in fi sheries and
5 Livelihoods in the Context of Fisheries – A Governability Challenge
Employment and Livelihoods
Employment
Although my primary concern in this paper is with livelihoods in fi sheries, I also
reference employment as one way of emphasizing the material importance of
fi sheries and aquaculture globally. The distinction between employment and livelihoods is one of de fi nitional fullness and complexity; employment being the narrower term and livelihoods the richer one. Employment is an economic measure of
the jobs in different sectors of the economy, while livelihoods includes employment
but contextualizes it within a range of other considerations.
Employment in fi sheries does however require some further elaboration. Even as
a seemingly straightforward concept, the term has important quali fi cations.
Employment varies a great deal, for example straying far from the nine to fi ve norm
of work in industrial economies. Work at sea follows the rhythms of the seasons and
the ecosystem, which diverge from the regularities of calendar and clock time. Early
morning departures are the norm and work on board fi shing vessels often involves
long, gruelling hours of setting and hauling in gear and cleaning the catch and gear
afterwards. Shore work also follows a schedule that varies with the time of departure
and arrival of the boats, size of the catch, and the duties of provisioning, maintenance,
and marketing. The onshore-at sea division further re fl ects the gendered character of
employment in fi shing; men’s employment and women’s employment are usually of
a different nature with divergent forms of remuneration. The shore-sea distinction also
points to the linkages of employment in the fi sheries sector. The work of catching fi sh
is only the fi rst stage of employment in the fi sh chain and is generally only the smaller
part of employment generated by the sector. Employment multiples of fi ve to one are
normal in calculating the employment impact of fi shing (Béné 2006 ) .
As Béné ( 2006 ) points out, it is standard in treatments of small-scale fi sheries to
talk about the importance of fi sheries from an economic point of view. Fisheries are
said to generate high levels of employment and serve as an important economic
driver, particularly in developing countries. Béné ( 2006 ) goes on to note that when
these statements are subject to closer scrutiny, fi sheries only make relatively minor
contributions to national economies, with the exception of a few countries such as
Senegal. Nonetheless, fi sheries and aquaculture, particularly in their small-scale
forms, do offer direct and indirect employment for large numbers of people globally. Estimates of this number range from 29 to 100 million (Béné 2006 , 22–23).
According to global data compiled by the FAO ( 2009 ) , forty-three and a half million
people were directly employed in fi sheries and aquaculture in 2006. Of these, the
vast majority (86%) were in Asia and most (60%) only worked part-time (FAO
2006, 2009 , 23). While aquaculture provided only 8.6 million jobs in 2006, it is
growing faster than capture fi sheries employment, which has slowed considerably
and even gone into decline in countries like Japan and Norway (FAO 2009 , 23–25).
When dependents are included, the signi fi cance of employment in fi sheries and