DFM Newsletter
Reports and working papers
We have implemented a new platform for listing project outputs, accessible at http://driedfishmatters.org/publications.html. This online listing is generated daily by a custom script that pulls reference data from DFM-authored publications stored in our Zotero library. Publications are grouped by type, with both the overall groupings and the publications within them listed by order of the most recent update.
We are pleased to announce several recently published research outputs, which are listed below.
Additionally, the following reports and working papers are currently in final editorial review, and will be released in the coming weeks:
- Literature reviews from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Cambodia
- Scoping research report from Cambodia
Zotero
Several of our teams have been collecting local research materials concerning dried fish within the shared Zotero library. We look forward to seeing this online research database grow over the coming weeks and months.
Joining the DFM Zotero Group
Membership in the DFM Zotero group is open to project-affiliated researchers and students. (The library is accessible to non-members as well; however, only group members are able to download publications.) If you are not yet registered as a member of the Dried Fish Matters Zotero group, you can join by taking the following steps.
1. Sign in to Zotero, or create an account if you do not yet have one: https://www.zotero.org/user/login.
2. Visit the description page for our group: https://www.zotero.org/groups/2183860/dried_fish_matters/
3. Click/tap on the red button marked "Join" (located just below the group description, as seen in the screenshot below).
We may already have pre-authorized your membership based on the email address we have on file for you. If you are using a new account or a different email address, you may need to wait for us to approve your group membership manually. Please ensure that your name is included in your Zotero profile, so we can tell who you are.
Getting started with the DFM Zotero library
We have also created an updated reference document to get you started using Zotero, available within the DFM library itself under the title “DFM Help: Zotero web library”. This document addresses many of the features described in the July 9 webinar, providing screenshots to the online (web library) version of Zotero that can be accessed anywhere – including on shared or mobile devices.
Small Fish Seminar
The online seminar “Small, Low-cost Fish: From Bait to Plate” (February 15-16) was organized by Dried Fish Matters, Fish4Food, SmallFishFood, and IKAN-F3 projects.
Small and low-cost fish, like sardines and mackerel, are recognized as being rich in micronutrients. They play an important role in preventing malnutrition of poor and undernourished people in developing countries. In combination with researchers from four ongoing projects in Africa and Asia, FAO is organizing a virtual seminar on the contribution of small, low-cost fish to food security on February 15th and 16th, 2021.
In line with 2025 global nutrition targets The Global Nutrition Report 2020 calls on societal parties to “to step up efforts to address malnutrition in all its forms and tackle injustices in food and health systems” (2020:8). It points out that progress towards this end is slow as well as highly unfair, with developing countries bearing the brunt of the problem. Fish is noted as one of the most nutrient-dense foods, for which more public investment is required (ibid.:94). Small fish, particularly when consumed whole, are very rich in micronutrients and aid in the absorption of nutrients from plant-based foods with which they are eaten. Small fish are still a relatively ‘cheap’ food in most countries of the world when compared to other animal-sourced foods, and can be purchased in small quantities, making them more accessible to the poor (ibid.:85). The event was a follow-up on the theme of World Food Day 2020, “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together.”
This 3-stage event focused on the contribution of the class of what are commonly known as “small fish” (mainly epipelagic forage fish) to the food and nutrition security of poor and undernourished populations of the developing world. Small fish species are numerous in oceans and freshwater environments, and often make up the less expensive varieties of products in aquatic food marketplaces. They frequently end up on the plates of low-income households.
We take a food system approach to examine the role of the various segments of the small fish value chain in meeting the four dimensions of food and nutrition security – availability, accessibility, quality (utilization) and stability (FAO 2006). We recognize the direct nutritional contributions of small fish, but also the indirect contributions, through employment, that participation in small fish value chains provide. While our ambition is global in scope, the evidence presented derives from a more limited set of country settings in South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Four ongoing international research projects on the role of small fish in providing food and nutrition security provide empirical inputs and analyses, as do a set of relevant FAO-led efforts.
DFM Communications
Our project communications channels are listed below.
| Dried.Fish.Matters@umanitoba.ca | |
| Website | http://driedfishmatters.org/ |
| https://twitter.com/DriedFishUM | |
| Email list | http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/dried-fish-matters |
| YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCszSWej3Z4zI-wx_MWxL2RA |
| Zotero | https://www.zotero.org/groups/2183860/dried_fish_matters/library |
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Credits
This research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
