Small-Scale Fishing: At the Brink of Extinction?
The Global Awareness and Impact Alliance (GAIA) held a lunch seminar on 29 May 2021 at Co-Lab, Kiulap, Brunei to address aspects of the Blue Economy.
The Blue Economy covers issues such as the preservation of the marine environment and the close linkages between the ocean, climate change and the people. It supports all of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , especially SDF14 ‘life below water’ and the need for ambitious, co-ordinated actions to sustainably manage, protect and preserve our oceans. Brunei Darussalam as a coastal state is heavily dependent on economic resources that we derive from our maritime backyard, the south china sea. The luncheon seminar gave insight into the Blue Economy by looking into the patterns of small-scale fishing in Brunei.
The invited speaker, Dr. Magne Knudsen, is an Assistant Professor and Programme Leader of Sociology and Anthropology, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Dr. Knudsen holds a PhD (2010) in social anthropology from the Australian National University. Before coming to UBD in 2015, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore. His PhD-project focused on how fishing families succeeded or failed to secure livelihoods and establish rights in land in a highly contested peri-urban setting in the Philippines. His current research includes human uses of rivers and small-scale fishing in Brunei Darussalam; traditional knowledge and bio-cultural diversity in Southeast Asia; disaster response and reconstruction planning in the Philippines; and coastal livelihood transition in Southeast Asia. Outside of academia, Dr. Knudsen has worked as a consultant on environmental issues and been a livelihood and land tenure expert for a humanitarian crisis response team.
The seminar was attended by 12 participants who enjoyed lunch while listening and debating the fishing culture within Brunei. The participants comprise representatives from government agencies, private agencies, embassy, and local non-government organisations. Participants also had the opportunity to ask questions and contribute to an engaging discussion, which was followed by a networking session.
We are grateful for the strong turnout at the event and thank all our attendees for their intriguing questions and continuous support. Under its Blue Economy Series, GAIA hopes to run more luncheon seminars as to address pertinent topics within maritime security.