The politics of sustaining tuna, fisheries and livelihoods in the Western Indian Ocean. A marine political ecology perspective
This thesis aims to expand knowledge regarding the socio-economic and political aspects of the western Indian Ocean (WIO) tuna fisheries at different levels - local, national, regional. The thesis was written at a time when ocean-based activities are high on the agenda of governments and other stakeholders in a wave of interests for the blue economy, including in Africa and in the Indian Ocean. With increasing signs of collapse of some tuna stocks in the WIO, the thesis unveils the complexities of managing fishing activities of a highly valuable and mobile marine species such as tuna. To this end, the research answers the question: How do socio-economic and political processes shape the management of tuna fisheries in the Western Indian Ocean? To respond to this question, I will look at three aspects: narratives around the state of tuna resources, access politics and regionalism. A political ecology approach is used for the research. Political ecology as a field of study pays particular attention to politics in its attempt to understand human-environment interactions. The study focuses on three countries in the WIO: Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles. These countries were used to build a regional perspective. The thesis is based on empirical data collection and analysis, notably of documents regarding the fisheries, semi- structured interviews, and observations of fishing activities, landing at ports and decision- making during regional meetings. The thesis makes three main arguments. Regarding the state of tuna resources, the thesis demonstrates that local fishers have developed strong discursive claims that they use to contest exploitation by industrial actors. Industrial actors, on the other hand, perceive themselves as unjustly accused of being the main responsible for overfishing in the region. In the case of tuna fisheries in the WIO, discursive power is not only exercised by usual powerful actors; small-scale fishers have built over the years a powerful narrative of tuna being overfished, with the ...