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The Passing of Dr. Mostafa Hossain

Dr. Mostafa Ali Reza Hossain – or Ranu, as he was known to many friends – was born on 16th March, 1967 in the district of Chapainawabgonj in Northwest Bangladesh. Mostafa completed a BSc in Fisheries from Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) in 1990, and an MSc and PhD from the University of Stirling, UK, in 1998, where he studied optimal rearing conditions for catfish. He subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship on fish biodiversity in Kyoto University, Japan, and a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Washington, USA, conducting innovative research on microplastics pollution in freshwater ecosystems.

From 1992, Mostafa worked at BAU’s Department of Aquaculture, serving as a professor for much of his career, including 2 years as the Head of the Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics. During this time, he led or contributed to around 20 research projects, authored close to 100 journal articles, books and book chapters, and supervised numerous Masters and PhD students. He also served as a general secretary of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Forum, and as a member of the committee responsible for compiling the IUCN red list for Bangladesh.

A recent photo taken in Cox’s Bazar. Photo taken by: Nahiduzzaman Md.

Mostafa was one of the foremost experts on freshwater fish taxonomy in Bangladesh. His passion for documenting and sharing knowledge on the fish fauna of Bangladesh led him to establish singlehandedly a Fish Museum and Biodiversity Center on the BAU campus, where one of the main exhibits is a series of beautiful photographs of freshwater fishes that Mostafa painstakingly compiled himself over a period of many years. To help conserve and restore freshwater biodiversity, Mostafa created an experimental fish sanctuary in a branch of the Old Brahmaputra close to BAU campus that successfully enhanced fish stocks in the surrounding area.

Alongside his deep appreciation for and understanding of fish biology and ecology, Mostafa was fascinated by people, including those dependent on fish for their livelihoods and sustenance. His empathy, inquisitiveness, intelligence, approachability, and gentle and dignified demeanor made him an exceptional field researcher, capable of striking up conversation with and eliciting deep information from people from all fields of life. His talents in both technical and qualitative research, along with his wide-ranging interests and intellectual curiosity made him a natural trans-disciplinarian, equally at home and happy thinking and talking about fish biology and aquatic ecology, farm management and fishing practices, or wellbeing and culture.

Mostafa was dedicated both to living a good life, and to improving the lives of others. He helped to set up and raise funds for a night school at BAU campus for orphans and working children. His warmth, energy, enthusiasm, and generosity of spirit also enriched the lives of the many students, colleagues and friends fortunate enough to have known him. He was widely considered a ‘walking encyclopedia’ – the first person to turn to for information in all matters related to fish – but also recognized for his wisdom and good counsel and kindness and care in all other matters. He was someone to be listened to and trusted and learned from and admired and emulated.

The Someshwari, one of Mostafa’s favorite rivers in Bangladesh. Photo taken by: Nahiduzzaman Md.

All these qualities made Mostafa central of the Dried Fish Matters project. His early research on dried fish value chains in Bangladesh with colleagues from WorldFish provided much of the initial inspiration for the DFM project proposal. He was a cornerstone of the DFM Bangladesh country team, as well as a regular and active participant in DFM global, where he was a source of encouragement for many members of the wider project team.

Mostafa’s life was cut tragically short on January 29, when he suffered a massive heart attack on BAU campus. He will be deeply missed by all of those whose life he touched, but his legacy will continue through his work, and the work of the very many people to whom he served as a mentor and an inspiration. He was a beautiful soul in life, and will always be remembered fondly, with great love, affection, and respect.

Obituary written by Ben Belton, Nahiduzzaman Md., Samsul Alam, and Shakuntala Thilsted on behalf of Dried Fish Matters

Mostafa with DFM friends and colleagues on the last day of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Conference, Cochin, November 23rd 2022
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In Memoriam: Paul Onyango

Paul Onyango (1970-2022)

This April, the SSF community lost a dear friend and colleague, Paul Onyango. Paul was a passionate campaigner for the rights of small-scale fishing communities who believed in the power of “invisible presences” in dealing with poverty.

We invite members of the DFM community to celebrate Paul’s memory and commemorate his contributions to the world of SSF research. Professor Svein Jentoft, Paul’s academic supervisor, has written a tribute on behalf of TBTI that you can read here: http://toobigtoignore.net/a-tribute-to-paul-onyango/.

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News Research

Dried Fish: The Journal Article

We are very excited to announce the publication of “Dried fish at the intersection of food science, economy, and culture: A global survey” in the journal Fish and Fisheries. This major literature survey from the Dried Fish Matters project is the result of a collaborative effort to catalogue and analyze more than 1100 publications directly concerning dried fish.

Our survey demonstrates the important and varied nature of the contributions that dried fish make to the food and nutrition security, health, livelihoods, and social and cultural well-being of people around the world. Among the three thematic categories of food, economic, and cultural values that we elaborate in this survey, we find the dried fish literature most heavily focused on food value, followed by economic value. The importance of social relational and aesthetic values of dried fish for consuming populations thus merit much greater attention. Other major lacunae are the ecological relations on which dried fish economies depend and attention to questions of political economy and governance that are required to assure the sector continues to supply adequate, nutritious, and safe foods, in ways that are sustainable and just. Without the sustainability of fisheries as a natural resource, all values of dried fish are undermined.

Thematic clusterThemesExamples of subthemesItems in dried fish sample
Food valueFood scienceFood and nutrition security and healthFood safetyChemical analysisDerivative product development75% (N = 851)
Economic valueValue chains, economy, and labourEcologyInternational tradeLabourValue chainsMicroeconomicsPolitical ecology23% (N = 264)
Cultural heritage valueCulture and social relationsHistory and changeCultureSocial relationsWell-beingFood and cookingGender18% (N = 208)
Thematic hierarchy. Percentages indicate the proportion of all references that are tagged with themes that fall within the thematic cluster. As references may be given multiple tags from across the thematic areas, percentages in this column do not total 100%

This Open Access paper is available to read and download free of charge from publisher website.

READ ONLINE

The paper is accompanied by several online resources, including the active Zotero library, full bibliographic dataset for our dried fish sample, source graphs generated by an online query engine, and software tools developed for the review.

Thematic intersections in the literature on dried fish: Major themes and illustrative questions suggested by the literature survey (click to enlarge)

Abstract

Dried fish—here defined broadly as aquatic animals preserved using simple techniques, such as sun-drying, salting, fermentation, and smoking that permit storage as foods at ambient temperature for extended periods without specialized packaging—have received little direct attention in fisheries research. This lack of visibility belies their historical and contemporary importance. Prior to the introduction of refrigeration, dried fish were the main form in which fisheries catches were traded and consumed. Dried fish products remain a core component of production, trade, diets, and cuisines across the world, particularly in the Global South. The dried fish sector provides employment for millions of people, particularly women, who comprise most of the fish-drying workforce in many locations. However, the sector also confronts and creates significant challenges including food safety concerns and exploitative labour conditions. This paper is the first systematic assessment of the global literature on dried fish, comprised of a sample of >1100 references. In contrast to the general fisheries literature, which is dominated by studies of ecology and governance and focusses mainly on primary production, the dried fish literature is dominated by studies from food science and concentrates on the processing segment of fish value chains. As such, it offers valuable reference point for fisheries research, which is becoming increasingly attentive to food systems. This paper uncovers a wealth of insights buried in this largely unheralded literature, and identifies key thematic intersections, gaps and research questions that remain to be addressed in the study of dried fish.

Reference

Belton, Ben, Derek Johnson, Eric Thrift, Jonah Olsen, Mostafa Hossain, and Shakuntala Thilsted. 2022. “Dried Fish at the Intersection of Food Science, Economy, and Culture: A Global Survey.” Fish and Fisheries. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12664.

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Dried fish biscuits and energy bars for Bangladesh

Sesame + glass fish snacks from Bangladesh, developed by BAU researchers.

Two research teams in Bangladesh, from Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) and Sher-E-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), have separately developed Chanacur (popular snacks), Biscuits and energy bars from dried fish.

The BAU team use kechki fish (Corica Soborna), a small indigenous fish with high nutrient content, to make Chanacur and Bars, whereas the SAU team uses Panga and Siver Carp fish to make Biscuits and Bars.

Both teams claim that these new products are highly nutritious and will contribute to food and nutrition security of Bangladesh.

DFM PhD candidate Mahfuzar Rahman, currently in the field in Bangladesh, has shared with us some links to media reports on these initiatives. We look forward to learning more about these snacks and how they are being received by consumers.

Reports on the BAU team research

BBC News, September 26, 2021. “The way researchers have made nutritious chanachur and other delicacies with glass fish“.

BD-Daily, September 26, 2021. “Bakrbi made a crunchy almond and sesame bar with glass fish“.

Prothom Alo, October 12, 2021. “Bangladeshi researchers made Chanachur with fish“.

The Daily Jugantor, September 26, 2021. “Why is Chanachur made with glass fish nutritious?”

Reports on the SAU team research

Daily Sun, December 14, 2019. “Biscuit, Chanachur from fish to help Bangladesh fight malnutrition“.

United News of Bangladesh (UNB), December 14, 2019. “Biscuit, Chanachur from fish to help Bangladesh fight malnutrition“.

Bangladesh Post, December 8, 2019. “SAU researchers develop biscuit, chanachur from fish“.

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News Research

Researching communications in an international project

This study, “Assessing perceptions of effectiveness of three levels of communication in an international project on the social economy of dried fish in Asia”, was conducted as part of my Master Thesis from September 2020 to August 2021, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this thesis was done remotely.

I used a mixed method approach to examine various factors influencing communication effectiveness in an international project directed by anthropologists. The project is called “Dried Fish Matters” (DFM) and focuses on the importance of the social economy of dried fish and the social wellbeing of marginalized people in South and South-East Asia. My study can serve as a model to encourage other international research projects to include reflexivity and self-analysis in their work and communication practices.

Communication can take multiple forms and is essential in our personal and professional lives. Communication has been studied in various contexts, including architecture projects; distance education; commercial enterprises; fishery organizations, industries, consumers, marketing companies and decision makers; and medical environments. However, communication within international research teams has been understudied.

I used three different methods to investigate DFM’s internal and external communications: a general survey, in-depth interviews and participant observation. Internal communications were divided into internal communication within research teams and internal communication within the global project. Both types of internal communications were found to be effective from participants’ perspectives: 84% of the participants answered positively to the general questions. Concerning the external communication addressed to external users, results were much more mixed, with only 47% of the participants answering positively about its effectiveness. Even though the mixed method approach can be an effective methodology for engaging with communication effectiveness, close attention should be given to the definitions of communication and communication effectiveness.

DFM Student Working Group Meeting (2020), part of the participant observation methodology.

This study highlights some of the influencing factors of communication, including hierarchy, interdisciplinary collaboration, personality traits, social relationships among colleagues, and DFM’s coordination. There is not a single definition of effective communication or a model for how it can be achieved in every case, so it is impossible to make generalizations based on this work. However, my study demonstrates the importance of transparency, open-mindedness and frequent communications in international research projects, which can form the basis of effective communication. Thereby, I demonstrate the importance of communication in research projects, the lack of literature associated with it, and the influencing factors that could be seen as a requirement to have effective communication.

Key recommendations

Here are some key recommendations based on the results of this study and from the participants’ point of view:

  • Having a Zoom free Friday, or Zoom-free after 9 pm
  • Having a summary in one place to keep track of everything related to the project, for example in the DFM’s website for all the participants, or in the wiki-page
  • Sending an analysis every couple of weeks or month in order to keep collaborators from the project aware of the research
  • Having one person or a group of people dedicated to communication full-time
  • Having someone from DFM central monitoring and assisting the country teams; it could even improve the communication between regional teams and DFM central

Here are my key recommendations based on the results of this study:

  • Online meetings should include a break of 5 or 10 minutes during the middle of a meeting. Moreover, it would be helpful to alternate the meeting time: one time during the morning in Canada, one time during the evening in Canada, etc
  • Giving more feedback to everyone working within the project
  • Increase social media presence by creating an account on Instagram and/or other online platforms to expand communication toward the general public
  • Create a WhatsApp group within research teams and even within the global project

Reference

Pigeault, Alexia. 2021. “Assessing Perceptions of Effectiveness of Three Levels of Communication in an International Project on the Social Economy of Dried Fish in Asia.” Master’s thesis, Online: Gent University and University of Manitoba. [Thesis report Alexia Pigeault.pdf]

Effective communication in research projects can have direct positive impacts on knowledge co-production and the researchers’ wellbeing. Examining the factors influencing communication requires in-depth observation and understanding of the researchers’ opinions and actions. This study consisted of “researching the researchers”; as part of my thesis research, I observed the interactions of members of an international research project on dried fish in South and South East Asia led by Canadian Anthropologists. The focus was on internal and external communications and revealed that open-mindedness, frequent communication, and transparency are three determinants of effective communication. Moreover, the results show a global agreement on the effectiveness of internal communications, while the results for external communication are more mixed. Studying our own communications by engaging in introspection is something that should be required to produce better outcomes and enhance collaboration in international projects.

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News

Shakuntala Thilsted wins Arrell Global Food Innovation Award!

Congratulations to Shakuntala Thilsted on winning this year’s Arrell Global Food Innovation Award!

The Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards, worth $100,000 each, recognize global excellence in food innovation and community impact.

The Scientific Award recognizes researchers who have “advanced understanding of food production, processing, distribution, consumption, safety and/or human nutrition, with a significant positive impact on society.”

Two awards are given annually by the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph, whose mission is to “bring people together to conduct research, train the next generation of food leaders and shape social, industrial and governmental decisions, always ensuring food is the central priority.”

Awards

Award announcement

Sometimes, a new way of thinking can change the world. Throughout her career, Doctor Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted has focused on local, culturally food appropriate system solutions that strengthen the ways communities produce, supply, cook, and eat diverse and nutritious foods. Her holistic, nutrition sensitive solutions have transformed the health and livelihoods of millions of vulnerable people while preserving local environments.

Using her animal nutrition expertise, she took a closer look at the nutritional qualities of small fish by communities across Bangladesh. She realized these underestimated small fish had big nutritional benefits in diets, especially for women and children. Working with a team of researchers, she proved the small fish make good neighbors to bigger species in polyculture fish farming systems or productive additions to flooded rice fields, increasing family farmers’ income. She went on to encourage communities to grow micronutrient rich vegetables on the banks of the ponds and rice fields, further improving household access to nitritious foods.

To ensure the small fish moved from the pond to the plate, she developed nutrition-sensitive innovations like nets designed for women for harvesting and fish-based products like powders and chutneys, and recipes to make all these healthy foods part of delicious daily meals. By sustainably increasing the supply and consumption of these aquatic superfoods, she revolutionized the fight against malnutrition. Working with the global research center WorldFish, she took her nutrition sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems from Bangladesh and adopted them in countries across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.

By building holistic solutions that improve the quantity, quality, and availability of aquatic food, she pushed the world closer to reaching the food and nutrition secure future. Her science and innovation has formed a growing shift in global agendas from feeding and growing population, to nourishing all people, nations, and our planet. The positive impact of her innovation continues to be multiplied through the generations of scientists, advocates, and farmers she mentors and inspires.

Congratulations to Doctor Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, 2021 winner!

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Shakuntala Thilsted, dried fish, and the World Food Prize 2021

Members of the Dried Fish Matters project would like to offer their sincere congratulations to Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted on her receipt of the 2021 World Food Prize.

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted (CGIAR/WorldFish Center)

The World Food Prize is awarded for “a specific, exceptionally significant, individual achievement that advances human development with a demonstrable increase in the quantity, quality, availability of, or access to food through creative interventions at any point within the full scope of the food system.”

Shakuntala’s award recognized how her research and innovation have contributed to advancing “holistic, nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquaculture and food systems.”

We are proud to have Shakuntala as part of the Dried Fish Matters project.

In Shakuntala’s own words, dried fish have a central place in her work:

A significant part of my research that led to me being awarded the 2021 World Food Prize is on dried fish and the use of dried small fish and fish-based products such as fish powder and fish chutney to improve food and nutrition security in Asia and Africa, with focus on women and children in the first 1000 days of life.

We know that dried fish, as a concentrated source of multiple micronutrients and essential fatty acids, is a super food and can combat malnutrition in many communities.

The Dried Fish Matters project indeed owes much of its inspiration to Shakuntala’s path-breaking work with our other project colleagues Dr. Ben Belton and Dr. Mostafa Hossain.

This earlier research, focusing on dried fish value chains in Bangladesh, urged us to acknowledge that “dried fish may contribute significantly toward food and nutrition security – achievement of which is fundamental to material wellbeing – in a country that continues to experience severe levels of malnutrition and associated health problems” (Belton et al. 2018).

At the same time, however, Shakuntala and her colleagues’ work confirmed the near absence of information about dried fish in research and policy literature.

Building on Shakuntala’s pioneering food and nutrition security research, the Dried Fish Matters project was established to address these knowledge gaps through a research partnership that now includes twelve teams from six countries across South and South-East Asia.

I look forward to seeing the work being done in Dried Fish Matters grow in strength and be scaled for nourishing many more people, globally.

Shakuntala H. Thilsted

Thank you and congratulations!

For more on Shakuntala and the World Food Prize, see the WorldFish video clip, “Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted reacts to receiving the World Food Prize“.

Further reading

Details on Shakuntala’s life and achievements and reaction to the prize:

Shakuntala’s collaborations on dried fish value chains, with DFM collaborators Ben Belton and Mostafa Hossain:

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Derek Johnson and DFM in The Manitoban

The latest issue University of Manitoba student newspaper The Manitoban features an interview with DFM Project Director Derek Johnson, who comments on the importance of small/dried fish and how DFM has managed to thrive despite COVID-19 lockdowns.

https://www.themanitoban.com/2021/03/u-of-m-prof-leads-project-analyzing-dried-fish-social-economy/41648/