Global literature review - Introduction

A large share of global fisheries catches, particularly those landed in the global South, are preserved using simple techniques including sun-drying, salting, fermentation, and smoking. We use “dried fish” as a catchall term for this category of foods, broadly defined as any aquatic animal product that has undergone processing that enables it to be stored as food at room temperature for extended periods of time without specialized industrial packaging.

Prior to the introduction of ice making technologies and cold chains, dried fish would have been the main form in which fisheries catches were traded and consumed, and the global historical record is replete with evidence of widespread dried fish production, storage, trade, and consumption, going back millennia. But dried fish is not a residual category. It remains a core component of diets and cuisines across much of the world, and in some locations - including much of Africa - is the main form in which fish is sold and eaten.

Drying results in dehydration, weight reduction and concentration of nutrients. The ease with which dried fish can be stored and transported means that it reaches hinterland areas where fresh fish and other nutritious foods are not readily available, and permits the smoothing out of consumption throughout the year even in areas where fish are not abundant during some seasons. These qualities of dried fish, along with their ready divisibility into small portions, intense flavor, and prices per unit of nutrient that are often low compared to fresh fish, make them widely and readily available and accessible, and of disproportionately great importance to the nutrition of the most vulnerable.

On the supply side, production of dried fish provides a source of livelihood, income, and employment to millions of people, often with high participation by poor and marginalized groups. Actors involved include small- and larger-scale fishers and processors, and traders at various scales from large urban wholesalers to small urban and rural retailers. Women dominate the fish-drying workforce in many locations, including countries such as Bangladesh where women's work outside the home has traditionally been heavily restricted.

However, serious concerns have been raised about the dried fish economy. First, many laborers in dried fish value chains belong to marginalized groups (widows, refugees, religious minorities, and lower castes, for example) and are vulnerable to a variety of forms of exploitation and exposure to health and personal safety risks and hazards [1]. Second, the use of pesticides during the drying and storage of fish to protect against insect infestation is believed to be widespread, and may imply serious health risks for producers and consumers exposed to these contaminants on a regular basis. Sanitary conditions at production site are also often poor [2]. Third, the ecological integrity of the fisheries on which dried fish production is based is threatened, resulting in fish shortages and price shocks [3]. Fourth, utilization of dried fish for production of feeds for a growing aquaculture and livestock industry may divert fish away from human food chains [4].

Despite its evident importance, and the challenges that it faces, the diverse and complex economy that produces and distributes dried fish has been almost invisible to researchers and policymakers. The fisheries literature tends to emphasize fish, fishers, and fishing, paying far less attention to land-based activities such as processing and trading, which may account for half or more of fisheries related livelihoods, including those of most of the women involved [5]. Fresh products are often assumed to be the primary, or only, form in which fish is consumed. Postharvest dried fish value chains are often overlooked, and undocumented in official statistics. Accounts of the dried fish economy are thus partial, and highly fragmentary.

The Dried Fish Matters project (www.driedfishmatters.org) was designed to bring together an interdisciplinary team to address this major lacuna in fisheries research. In the present paper we map out the shape of the existing literature and identify key themes and gaps through, to our knowledge, the first comprehensive review of the global literature on dried fish. This comprises over 3000 publications identified through systematic searches made using the Google Scholar search engine, of which more than 1300 directly focus on dried fish. We have made these references publicly available to encourage further research in this field [6].

After a first section in which we review the methodological basis of the literature review, our paper has three core sections. We divide the presentation of the findings into two sections. The first body section of the paper provides a bird's eye overview of the shape of the literature using the quantitative indicators of geography, theme, value chain segment, product type, and journal type. To emphasize the distinctive characteristics of the dried fish literature, we contrast it against a small comparative sample drawn from the broader fisheries literature. The paper's second body section shifts to a close qualitative thematic examination of the literature. We then draw together insights from the preceding sections into a discussion section in which we point to the following key insights from the review:

Our review reveals that A, B, C, and in doing so makes an important contribution to the fisheries literature by drawing attention to a central but chronically underrepresented area for research and action.