Diverse values of surplus for a community economy of fish(eries)

Abstract

This paper develops a diverse economies account of fish ‘waste’ that revalues it as ‘surplus’. We examine ‘Kai Ika’, a community marine conservation experiment in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Aotearoa New Zealand. Kai Ika rescues fish heads, frames and offal that were previously ‘going to waste’ and redistributes them to fish eaters who would otherwise struggle to access these foods. It involves fishers and community sector and Indigenous actors in an initiative that converts would‐be waste into surplus. We examine the case as a diverse economic project that nourishes humans, enhances respect for fish as living beings, and potentially conserves marine resources in the face of global‐to‐local fisheries depletion. The research is based on community‐gathered fish parts collection data, and virtual and email interview data. We analyse this data to produce an account of diverse ‘object values’ and fish‐related surpluses that derive from surplus labour and other socio‐cultural and environmental surplus. We argue that reframing fish economies in this way encourages new and diverse economic subjectivities and a more connected, relational and cooperative community economy of fish.

Doing Conservation Differently: Toward a Diverse Conservations Inventory

“…and eschews the impulse for a single grand action strategy. This theory has been enormously influential for a wide range of social scientists committed to undermining capitalism's hegemony (e.g., Amoamo et al 2018;Beacham 2018;Cameron and Gibson 2020;Foley and Mather 2016;Gibson-Graham, et al 2013;Gibson-Graham and Dombroski 2020a, b;Gibson-Graham and Roelvink 2011;Jehlička and Daněk 2017;Sharp et al 2022;Snyder and St. Martin 2015;Wynne-Jones 2014). Working in a wide range of contexts, these scholars inventory the many non-capitalist economic practices that already exist, indeed making up the majority of economic activities around the world.…”

Surviving well: From diverse economies to community economies in Asia‐Pacific

“…In this volume, Sharp et al . (2022) explore surplus fish ‘waste’ as a resource that has been commoned and redistributed to communities who value it. They trace how marine spaces in Aotearoa moved from commons management under Māori, to open access after colonialism, to a form of privatisation in the current quota management system, where corporations mainly benefit from access to quotas.…”

“…But it is an insight too often overlooked, even now, in the rush to upskill for the knowledge economy, to join the global economy or to create pliable workers keen for jobs. Surviving well together includes paying attention to diverse ways of getting what is needed for life – whether it is free fish heads (Sharp et al ., 2022) or access to quarry materials (Placino and Gibson, 2022). Such access to what is needed for life is embedded in many different kinds of relationships and transactions beyond waged labour and market exchange.…”

“…As Gibson-Graham et al (2016) have argued through the example of commoning the atmosphere in the face of the ozone hole, thinking of commoning rather than commons emphasises the actions and activities that enable us to think of caring for our shared existence. In this volume, Sharp et al (2022) explore surplus fish 'waste' as a resource that has been commoned and redistributed to communities who value it. They trace how marine spaces in Aotearoa moved from commons management under M aori, to open access after colonialism, to a form of privatisation in the current quota management system, where corporations mainly benefit from access to quotas.…”

“…Many of these practices of ‘surviving well’ draw on centuries‐old social and environmental relations that have developed in response to long relationships with places and regions. These include: practices of listening to the land and sea (Do and Dombroski, 2022; Vunibola et al ., 2022), formalised traditional modes of sharing applied in new contexts (Drake et al ., 2022; Placino and Gibson, 2022; Sharp et al ., 2022), commoning practices from rural areas reapplied in the city (Alam and Waliuzzaman, 2022), care for people, country, land and sea in good times and bad (Fidali and Larder, 2022; Gibson and Hill, 2022; McKinnon, 2022) and cooperative enterprises for collective well‐being (Vunibola et al ., 2022; Chitranshi and Healy, 2022). In the height of the development era, such ancient practices were often framed by academics as remnants of traditional economies that would naturally die away with modernisation.…”