Why this Year Mattered for Dried Fish Matters
This year marked a defining moment in the journey of Dried Fish Matters. What stood out was not only the scale of research undertaken, but the ways in which that research travelled: into classrooms, communities, policy conversations, creative spaces, and concrete interventions on the ground.
Across countries and disciplines, DFM’s work continued to make visible the social, economic, nutritional, and cultural significance of dried fish especially for women, small-scale fishworkers, and communities whose labour and knowledge remain systematically undervalued within dominant food-system narratives.
None of this work stands alone. This year’s achievements reflect the sustained commitment of researchers, students, partner organisations, civil society actors, and communities across South and Southeast Asia. From long days of fieldwork to collaborative writing spaces and community consultations, DFM remains rooted in relationships built on trust, care, and shared purpose.
Research & Publications
This year saw important progress across theses, books, and peer-reviewed journal publications, spanning the full range of DFM’s core objectives. Together, these outputs reflect the project’s interdisciplinary approach: bringing social economy and gender analyses into dialogue with nutrition science, food safety, and policy-relevant research on dried fish value chains. The publications highlighted below represent a select snapshot of major outputs from the year and are not an exhaustive list of DFM’s research contributions this year.
Theses published
- Women’s struggles for social wellbeing in the patriarchal dried fish value chains of Bangladesh — Aklima Akter, Master’s student, University of Manitoba (Link)
- Occupational health and hygienic provisions of dried fish processing workers in Bangladesh — Safina Naznin, Master’s student, University of Manitoba (Link)
Books & book chapters
- Dried Fish in Bangladesh – An Illustrated Book on Bangladesh – Led by the late Prof. Mostafa Ali Reza Hossain, this illustrated photo book is now published and print-ready – a significant milestone for visual and accessible knowledge production within DFM. We are deeply grateful to Prof. Samsul Alam for supporting its publication. (The digital version will be released soon.)
- Satumanatpan, S., Chuenpagdee, R., Suphakarn, T., Thammasak, Y., & Kungwan, J. (n.d.). Policy Realignment for the Implementation of the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines in Thailand. In Implementation of the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines A Legal and Policy Scan. Springer. (Link)
Journal publications
- Uon, Sokmoly & Kyoko Kusakabe (2025). Production of Prahok under Diminishing Fish Resources: Women as Cultural Custodians in Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia. Food and Foodways (Link)
- Sun, H., Johnson, D. S., & Aluko, R. E. (2025). Nutrient and heavy metals composition of dried fish varieties from Bangladesh. LWT (Link)
- Sun, H., Johnson, D. S., & Aluko, R. E. (2025). Structural and functional properties of dried fish protein isolates. AIMS Agriculture and Food (Link)
Research That Travels: Real-Time Impact Beyond Academia
One of the most meaningful developments this year was how DFM research translated into real-time interventions across policy, capacity building, and community engagement.
- Cambodia: DFM Cambodia’s collaborative scoping work on the prahok value chain with Cambodian Institute for Research & Rural Development (CIRD) directly informed subsequent Geographical Indication (GI) initiatives and capacity-building efforts for prahok retailers by CIRD, supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
- Karnataka, India: A consultative community workshop From Fishers to Consumers: Seafood Value Chain, held in Honnavara, brought together fishers, fisherwomen, government representatives, NGOs, and academics demonstrating DFM’s role as a convener across knowledge systems. (Link)
- Gujarat, India (Veraval): DFM research amplified long-standing demands by women dried fish retailers for dignified market spaces. This contributed to collective advocacy efforts that resulted in a newly constructed fish market, completed in December 2025, built through consultation with women vendors.
- Gujarat, India (Valsad district): Research emerging from a DFM Master’s thesis on the coast-to-forest dried fish value chain helped catalyse civil-society action in Khattalwada, Valsad. A prominent civil society organization is now undertaking participatory rural appraisal (PRA) work to initiate capacity-building and dried fish-based livelihood-focused interventions in the region.
Building Forward: Reimagined Food Systems – Small Fish for Climate Change
The Small Fish for Climate Change (SFCC) component of the Reimagined Food Systems project, funded under the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) and hosted at the University of Manitoba, represents a major outcome of the DFM project. SFCC is very much a brainchild of DFM’s long-term engagement with dried fish and small-fish value chains, and it intentionally builds forward from DFM’s empirical, conceptual, and methodological foundations.
Dovetailing with DFM’s ongoing work on India’s west coast, SFCC takes forward core questions on the social economy of value chains while extending the analytical lens to explicitly foreground human rights, climate risk, and social justice. The project also draws on the experience of African partner initiatives such as SmallFishForFood, enabling cross-regional dialogue on small fish systems.
Methodologically, SFCC builds directly on DFM’s value-chain and social-economy approach, while adding new dimensions. These include a human-rights-centred analytical framework, an explicit focus on climate vulnerability and risk, and the integration of a mass-balance approach to better understand flows of small fish across human consumption, non-food uses, and nutritional outcomes. In doing so, SFCC both consolidates and advances DFM’s interdisciplinary legacy, ensuring continuity while opening new pathways for policy-relevant and globally comparative research.
People & Recognition
This year also brought well-deserved recognition for DFM researchers and students, underscoring the project’s interdisciplinary and creative strengths.
- Samia Sobhan, DFM Master’s student at the University of Manitoba received the Women in Environmental Studies Award at the Magnificent Women’s Award Gala (MWAG), an event held in celebration of International Women’s Day, on March 22, 2025. (Link)
- Mohammad Anas Shoebullah Khan, DFM Project Manager, was recognised with three awards at the University of Winnipeg’s 2025 Research in Focus photography competition. His award-winning images, drawn from fieldwork in Valsad district, Gujarat, India, bring attention to the social economy and human rights dimensions of the dried fish value chain. (Link)
- Jessie Varquez, DFM PhD candidate at the University of Manitoba, awarded First Prize at the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Conference (GAF9) photography competition. (Link)
Workshops, Conferences & Knowledge Dissemination
DFM maintained a strong presence in international knowledge-exchange & dissemination spaces this year:
- Participation in the People & the Sea Conference (MARE 2025), Amsterdam: DFM researchers participated in MARE 2025, engaging with interdisciplinary scholars working on marine and fisheries issues. The conference provided an important space to situate dried fish research within broader debates on small-scale fisheries, governance, labour, and food systems. (Link)
- Popular news feature on Assam’s dried fish economy: DFM research informed a widely read news article, The Salty Heart of Assam: Unpacking the Story of Asia’s Largest Dried Fish Market authored by Dr Amalendu Jyotishi and Dr Nazrul Haque from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, which brought the social, economic, and cultural significance of dried fish in Assam to a broader public audience. The piece translated research insights into accessible storytelling, extending DFM’s reach beyond academic and project platforms. (Link)
- Podcast feature with the Too Big To Ignore (TBTI): DFM researchers Ms. Nova Almine and Mr. Mohammad Anas Khan were featured in a dedicated podcast episode discussing gender and dried fish value chains, highlighting how everyday labour, care, and informal economies shape dried fish production, and how women’s roles intersect with wellbeing, recognition, and justice. (Link)
- Active engagement at GAF9 in Thailand: DFM teams actively engaged in the Ninth Global Conference on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF9), contributing to conversations on gender, labour, and post-harvest fisheries. The conference also served as a key space for showcasing DFM’s gender-focused research and creative outputs, including photography. (Link)
- WG1 Synthesis Paper Workshop, Amsterdam: A dedicated Working Group 1 workshop was held alongside the MARE conference, bringing together DFM researchers to advance a synthesis paper on gender and the social economy of dried fish. The workshop marked a crucial step in consolidating insights from across country contexts into a coherent, project-wide analytical contribution.
- WG1 Edited Volume Workshop, Thailand: Building on ongoing collaboration, a Working Group 1 edited volume workshop was convened after GAF9 to advance plans for a collective publication emerging from DFM’s gender-focused research. The session focused on shaping the volume’s conceptual framing, scope, and longer-term publication strategy.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Early 2026 will see the launch of a new DFM website, with improved navigation and a comprehensive, organised archive of project outputs. As DFM enters its final year (ending February 2027), the focus will shift toward synthesis, documentation, and policy-oriented dissemination.
The year ahead will be about taking stock, of learnings, relationships, and impacts, while ensuring that intellectual, creative, and community contributions are recognised and celebrated.
As the year turns, the DFM Central team warmly wishes all DFM participants, scholars, researchers, community organisations, and partners a very happy new year. We are grateful for your continued engagement and look forward to the year ahead.