This document provides supplementary details on a focused research project on fish meal-dried fish value chain connections to complement the dried fish value chain scoping research conducted by Centre for Economic and Social Studies
The District Fishermen’s Youth Welfare Association (DFYWA) is a registered non-government organization (NGO) working with small-scale fishing communities of the east coast of India since 1992. One of DFYWA’s core priorities has been to develop sustainable dry fish initiatives to assist small fish vending women both independently or through collectives. In collaboration with several international and national bodies of research, academic and development support, DFYWA has undertaken numerous initiatives with positive results, though such endeavours were frequently followed by the realisation that much more would need to be done to obtain more sustainable outcomes for the fishers.
Besides its direct role in development, DFYWA has also taken into active consideration the need for better research, dissemination of research and policy options available to the communities as well as policy advocacy efforts to promote more holistic, sustainable and appropriate support systems. The organisation has a team of well-trained field staff with long experience of working on fisheries-based livelihoods, which helps to foster shared values and methodological approaches and thus achieve the organisational vision of providing sustainable livelihood support for the small-scale fishing communities of India.
Mr. Arjilli Dasu is the founder and Executive Secretary of District Fishermen’s Youth Welfare Association (DFYWA). He will be the lead coordinator for the Andhra Pradesh team. He has expertise in fisheries research, dissemination of research and policy advocacy.
Study on linkages between fish meal and dried fish value chains: DFYWA is currently preparing to undertake a comprehensive study of fish meal value chains in Andhra Pradesh. Dried Fish Matters project has identified the rapid growth of the fish meal sector as a major threat to the production and, thus, availability of dried fish for human consumption. Often, fish that otherwise would have been dried for human consumption have been redirected to fish meal processing destined for animal feeds. DFYWA’s project is thus of direct interest to DFM. As DFYWA’s initial fish meal project plans did not include focused attention on the consequences of the growth the fish meal production on dried fish value chains, DFM offered to provide additional funds to DFYWA to allow them to explore those connections closely. DFYWA will undertake research with various actors (producers, processors, traders, workers, consumers) in dried fish and fish meal value chains to better understand intersecting trends in both sectors.
We are requesting an amendment to Protocol #J2019:002 (HS21825) for ethics clearance for research conducted by DFYWA specifically on the impacts of growth of the fish meal industry in Andhra Pradesh on dried fish value chains. DFYWA will gather and analyze data on the effects on actors in all segments of dried fish value chains (producers, processors, traders, and retailers) and on consumers. The research will be conducted under the umbrella of their larger project on fish meal. Some information relevant to the fish meal-dried fish relationship will be gathered through the broader study and some will be derived from interviews specifically targeted at dried fish actors.
DFYWA will follow a mixed methods strategy for the study that includes open-ended interviews, participant observation, case studies, and oral histories. DFYWA’s approach is to begin with a few research questions that are the foundation for research based on an open ended process of constantly revisiting, revising and modifying both the questions as well as the answers. Interviews will typically include a diachronic, oral history, dimension: they will include questions about the past functioning of dried fish value chains and about research participants’ recollections of change over the past 10 to 15 years as fish meal has gained increasing economic importance in Andhra Pradesh. Oral histories will not include information about third parties who have not consented for this and participants will be informed about that before collecting oral histories. Case studies are descriptions of particular events or economic arrangements that are especially distinctive or representative of an aspect of the research that is of primary interest. They may serve as detailed examples in outputs from the project to illustrate key points. Researchers will gather information through participant observation as well. That is, they may accompany research participants on their daily rounds of activities and ask questions and make observations sparked by events or activities that are part of those daily rounds. Observation may thus take place in all settings of where dried fish economic activities take place, such as harbours, processing facilities, and markets. DFYWA’s approach to research is that it evolves as it goes along, and so do the research questions and the methodology. As an action research based organization, the evolving answers then inform DFYWA’s own development priorities with them. We do not anticipate submitting amendments as the research evolves, as the changes we anticipate will not result in changes in the overall research methods employed, just perhaps the balance between them. If it should prove necessary to add a new method such as, for example, focus groups or a short survey, we would submit a research amendment.
DFM’s interview guides will provide inspiration to the research, but specific examples of questions that will initiate DFYWA’s research include:
Data will be stored on a password protected computer at the offices of DFYWA. Access to the computer will be limited to the DFYWA project director and the two Field Research Coordinators. A list of interviews will be provided to the DFM Project Director with summary notes of the key themes of each interview. On request, DFYWA will provide translated notes on portions of interviews of particular interest to the DFM project.
DFYWA’s larger study on ‘Changing fish utilisation patterns and their implications and impacts for small-scale post-harvest workers in Andhra Pradesh State, India’ is focused on the eastern coastal state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The initial phase of research will focus on the five northern coastal districts of the state, i.e., Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, and West Godavari. Together, these five districts offer scope to study the two major fishing harbours in the state (Visakhapatnam and Kakinada), several major small-scale fish landing centres, fish and shrimp processing plants, major dried fish markets, and large areas of aquaculture and poultry farms (which form the basis of trade in fishmeal). Besides, these districts also have large populations of small-scale post-harvest workers – fish collectors, petty traders, a wide range of fish processors (making salted, dried, smoked, and other traditional products), and workers in fish/shrimp processing plants – a large proportion of whom would be women.
Depending on the pilot scale explorations in two locations – Visakhapatnam and East Godavari – the project will aim to extend its scope to the remaining districts, and once a fair understanding is achieved of the broader processes and trends affecting the fish utilisation patterns in the state, the study will be broadened to cover the remaining districts of the state.
The research team will comprise a four-tiered system of organising and implementing the research. At the field level, the qualitative and quantitative data gathering will be undertaken by DFYWA’s field staff, supported by members of the DFYWA’s village-level women’s and men’s committees. All those who will be involved in the field research will receive a thorough grounding on the rationale and the expected outputs of the research as well as in the field-research methodologies, which will include: open-ended, checklist-based, interactions; observations at the landing centres and markets; collection of individual case studies; and interviews with relevant actors in the different supply chain actions.
At the second level, the field research will be coordinated, monitored, and periodically reviewed by two Field Research Coordinators, one man and one woman, who have research background and will be reporting to, and guided by, the third tier of the research system, the Research Steering Committee.
The DFYWA staff who will be involved in on the ground data collection, the field staff and field coordinators, will sign oaths of confidentiality.
The Research Steering Committee, consisting of five members, is drawn from the governing body of the DFYWA, and includes four community-based members – two women and two men – and the Chief Executive of DFYWA. The Steering Committee is in overall charge of setting the objectives, direction, scope, and funding for the field research. It monitors progress on a quarterly basis and makes sure that the research is progressing along the expected lines, while also providing the guidance for the future actions.
The fourth-level of the research system consists of the advisors whose support will be taken to systematise the research themes and methodology, provide training to the research teams, help to undertake reviews and coordination, and support in the consolidation, analysis, and documentation of the study results in a systematic manner. The advisors will include professionals from the government, non-government, and private sectors and their number and the nature of engagement with the project will be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the needs.
Adherence to TCPS2CORE principles and practices will be directed by the Chief Executive of DFYWA, Mr. Arjili Dasu. My Dasu took the TCPS2CORE tutorial and will be responsible for training the two Field Research Coordinators. Mr. Dasu inserted the following paragraph entitled Ethics Protocol to indicate that DFYWA has had sustained internal discussions about the ethical principles on which their research is based. He subscribes to the risk minimization principles of the TCPS2CORE approach, but also wants to flag that DFYWA has long-term commitments to the groups which whom they work that also bring ethical responsibilities with them. As Mr. Dasu notes, ethical research practices are necessitated in their community work in order to retain the trust on which that work depends.
DFYWA has considerable experience of working with the poor, the marginalised, the disadvantaged, and the vulnerable sections of the society. It always strives to ensure free and fair participation of all relevant actors (men, women, children, disadvantaged groups etc) and that the process of data collection and utilisation remains transparent and accountable to those participating in the research, and that the negative implications of the study for any of those involved in the research are thoroughly studied and appropriate mitigation measures are put in place before sending the study out for wider dissemination. For a fisher community-based organisation like DFYWA, undertaking this research with a particular view to support and strengthen our roles in the fisheries post-harvest and market systems, it would be a paradox to have to pledge that we will not do anything to harm ourselves. Our engagement with our communities lasts a lifetime – which is far longer than any one particular research programme might last – and that requires that we do not shoot ourselves in the foot by gathering information through dubious means and by putting out research outputs that might be counter-productive to our own interests – or even that of a few among us.
There are no known risks associated with the participation of people in this study for the simple reason that the research itself is an outcome of a long-term, intensive, debate within the communities themselves who will also take the lead in supporting – if not actually implementing – the research. It is the community actors who will review the research results on a periodical basis and decide how they might help or distract from achieving the main objective. DFYWA is also fully aware that words like ‘community’ can hide very serious power imbalances and inequalities within the villages, based on a wide range of factors (gender, age, social/economic status, ethnicity, level of education, eloquence), and will ensure that the weaker, marginalised, silent, and vulnerable individuals/groups receive as much attention as – if not more than – the larger-scale or more powerful/visible actors among the target groups.
If there are research findings that might put the participants into any kind of trouble – e.g., illegal activities, child labour practices, or the use in fish processing of pesticides, etc. – the research will definitely not push such findings under the carpet, but – while ensuring the anonymity of individual respondents – will try to explain such practices as failures of a broader system of support and empowerment, and also as a way forward in developing appropriate development responses to them.