DFM MIN 2021-03-16 GIDR check-in

GUJARAT check-in meeting, 2021-03-16.

PRESENT: Derek, Eric, Tara, Himani, Rudra, Kirit, Arti

Introduction to Arti. Part of the project proposal; has started working since January.

Secondary data (consumption, policy, literature review)

Scoping field research

Scoping primary data started with "pilot" in Jaffrabad in January. The most feasible, since it was a small enough place just to jump in. One contact through Veraval Dried Fish processors did not work, but the team barged into someone's facility, where sacks were stacked up -- it was a fishmeal factory -- where they got an interview; it turned out to be the only fishmeal factory in that site. Went to the jettee with lines of fish-drying stands, randomly approached people; met a community leader (boat owning/drying group), and did a transect walk. Spoke to women from landing and drying yard. Found people cleaning/processing fish (Bombay duck). Spoke to ~4 boat owners and processors. After 2 days they felt they had obtained the needed information, so returned home and wrote up the findings.

News item in Times of India described a nearby village with freshwater fish drying, by Patthars (vulnerable tribal group), around 52 villages in that area do fish drying. Went for a morning; not the ideal time for this kind of study, but informative. Could not meet with anyone from fisheries cooperatives, but met with a trader. Discussed how they acquire right to fish in reservoirs; drying is subcontracted out to people who bring in labourers, and handle fish until it is loaded onto trucks.

Met several young researchers who are children of fisherfolk, and understand things well.

On the way back, looked at aquaculture. Huge number of ponds, filled from bore wells -- unsustainable. Drying is a major activity. Often undertaken by people who own land; e.g., all people in one Muslim village undertake drying. People have land but no capital, so this extractive production is attractive.

Need to return to Narsirova?, esp. to talk to cooperatives, talk to fishers and boat owners about how coops shape lives and livelihoods.

Veraval has been studied most; this is familiar to Derek. Spoke to brothers who came and set up huge processing industry in Veraval From 1980s to now, ~100 units were drying for Kerala, ~100 for Assam NE; now only about 40 units left. These are bringing women together.

Saw various products: fish paste, cattle feed powder, fish oil. Squid bones as bird feed (esp. parrots). Everything is out in the open, on mats, manual labour. No solar dryers, technology, quality check.

People don't really know where the product goes (e.g., the squid).

Many of the facilities are very large; hygiene is not the highest concern. CIFT is talking about hygiene and standards; but people reply that stricter standards would force them to wind up their business!

Issue concerning relations with Sri Lanka (e.g., shark ban), mounting international pressure.

Declining ocean fish stocks is also an issue.

Visited one plant that produced "white meat" (fish meat). Sign outside says "we will accept fish at any time of the day". Did not use term "surimi" (Japanese). They sold essentially a kind of fish cake.

Difference in species for drying vs. other products. Assam and Kerala are distinct markets (taste, etc.). Kerala wants cut through the belly, less dry; Assam wants dryer, less salt.

Fish meal has always been produced. Always was thriving -- trash fish dumped on sand and turned into cattle feed.

Were told that new boats could not be made, but saw evidence of the contrary (mending, etc.) -- new vessels are being introduced.

In Jaffrabad, there is a system for contracting boats -- perhaps 7-8 boats; the landing is controlled by the boat manager.

In Oka? payment to the crew is based on nets. Every crew member is given a set of nets, they catch as much as they want; each fish is marked (e.g., by cut in the tail) and tallied when payment is made.

Jellyfish high-end processing unit operates for 3 months/year in Oka but makes a fortune. Was closed down when they arrived. Completely China-focused.

Other research and meetings

Vistited Prof Solangi at Jaharnigar? University, who has done a lot of work but cannot write. Suggested that he help write some material as a product output. Marketing/branding, by-products processing, dried fish fairs. He asked if there was support for postdoc/researcher.

Met with CIFT. National bureaucratic organization. Suggested MOU; Tara said "sure". Showed solar dryer, which Tara views as failed experiment. No correlation between what scientists view as the problem and what entrepreneurs feel. The entrepreneur (Josan Brothers?) joined them for CIFT meeting. Tara asked if he would take any of these innovations; he refused as they would reduce margins; he would be interested in reducing spoilage and cost.

On consumption: Export is there. Volume of domestically exported dried fish has decreased. In Gujarat, no one says they are extremely fond of dried fish, though everyone eats it (people generally prefer fresh fish).

Methods: Free-flowing, long interviews. Referred to the interviews, but the interviews themwleves were much more organic and guided by the people who wanted to show off their work. There are a few gaps, but they did ask all the quantitative questions (costings, number of boats).

Arti prepared extensive fieldnotes as the interviews were happening. Tara transcribed verbatim. All of this provides interesting leads.

Fairs are very small, local events -- perhaps funded by local projects, to show something.

In Malia?, a women's group has started producing prawn pickle (have picture -- nicely packaged), as a high-end organic product. From CIFT they hear there is an interest through livelihood groups in commercialization; they did not have the chance to explore this dimension. These groups have graduated from savings/credit groups to livilihoods groups. CIFT is mandated to provide technical assistance, which combines with the active pursuit of livelihoods by the smaller women's groups. So there are many projects floating around with various sources of funding.

Discussion

DEREK notes: Government of India's Blue Revolution (Blue Economy) policy is in conflict with coastal industrialization. Mainline government institutions are seeing opportunities for community-level economic development. In some places, the industrialization strategy might win out -- where the communities are not as strong.

TARA: These are mutually exclusive. Civil society movements are stronger in Southern India. Some of the government's investments in women's groups / livelihoods and poverty alleviation ... Tara thinks that CIFT has outlived its relevance, but can still make small contributions. Their work is a kind of development spectacle (e.g., taking photographs of the Director giving a certificate to two women). Second, there is the narrative of self-reliance; the groups help to support that government narrative. On the other hand, economic development / fisheries policy itself will never adopt the language of small-scale, community development, decentralization.

HIMANI: Deputy Fisheries Commissioner stated that the voice of local communities is being lost as the Blue Revolution brings policy to a higher level.

Drying is a leftover product -- frozen fish is something people want to try to export, get investment for; the idea of solar drying is of very limited interest.

TARA: Tried to link to MPEDA. He kept asking if they could be members in the project; was looking for support for his solar drying project.

As oversight shifts away from local institutions, things deteriorate. Roads in Jaffrabad are abysmal; the harbour is unclean: there is no evidence of state governance at all.

DEREK: This is a novel arguments about the growing irrelevance of some branches of central government, and also the disempowerment of local institutions. These are important interpretations from the Gujarat team, which can help frame changes to governance, and position the changes within a longer timeframe. Look at how the technocratic imperative was present 30 years ago, in a different form, when the local government (province?) had more power. This research adds new elements as well, including the inland fishery in Gujarat. All of this work meets the objectives of the Scoping research.

Plans

Peak in landing: between Holy? and May. Expect to return to the field in first week of April; Scoping completed by April 10-15.

DEREK: For Bangladesh: Imperative to get SVC survey underway in October. Is this feasible? Research would need to be complete, analysis finished. Sample frame needs to ready, based on the Scoping report. Note that ethics review might take around 2 months.

TARA: Probably not an issue. Expect to complete the scoping report in April-June. Organizing a field survey does not take a long time; but they need agreement ready. October would be a good time.

ERIC: We can maybe start work on the survey instrument prior to completion of the Scoping research, particularly if it will be the same instrument in all sites.

DEREK: Maybe do a workshop on SVC with Ben?

RUDRA: One challenge is distinguishing between the different roles, since they overlap (boat owner, fisher, processor). This will be relevant in the survey. Also agreements tend to be verbal / based on relationships rather than based on written contracts.

DEREK: How to create methods for capturing the complexity of value chains, where the idea of distinct "segments" does not blind us to the integrated nature. Also, capture social capital, and personal relationships, and trust within the research (the "social economy").

Other substantive observations and questions

• Fisheries economy in Oka seems to have changed. In the 1990s was run by South Gujaratis; now the crew are coming in from elsewhere, but perhaps the boat owners are still local? If there has been a shift, how did this transition happened? Has some of the earlier features persisted? (e.g., the net-based fishing system is unusual -- is that a legacy of earlier practices?)
• Mangoral?: Does the Kara Somaj? still have this institutional strength? Previously it was considered to bring management advantages.
• In Veraval: Shrinkage of producers -- is this a market concentration (Josan? Bros.), or reduction in supply, or both? There are new products (like the fish meat) that compete with dried fish and impose supply constraints. At the same time, the entrepreneur may be blind to the possibility of new, innovative, higher-quality products.

TARA: Everyone has a trader mentality, not a manufacturing innovation mentality. There is a restructuring more than a reduction: we have the same supply, but it is redistributed across different products. For example, fish meal.

Gujarat is a relatively low-education area. No one speaks like a businessman.

DEREK: It looks like a professionalization of the fishing economy. The link to JAU -- as a local institution, can it be stronger than CIFT?

On aquaculture: feed, labour, etc. -- all inputs are from outside Gujarat; only the land is local. (TARA notes that rents from one pond supported a family of 15!)

TARA: Policy paper is with TARA. Will send it back later this week.

ACTION ITEMS

1. Literature review: huge collection of items, which could be put in Zotero. The review document can be done too. Maybe an RA could help with that, putting together. Derek suggests: literature review could also be included in the final report. Combine.
2. PAYMENT: send end April. Think about under-budget funds, possible reallocations.
3. SVC Workshop: turn into international / dissemination workshop.
4. DFM Webinar: when?