She showed a photograph of a small open boat docked in her homeport. “I hope that in ten years time, I can come back and show you this same picture,” she said. Ten years! That is not a long time. The fact that Zoila did not say 50 years, or even 20 is indicative of how little time is left for the work of turning things around. And yet the powers that be, the World Bank and FAO, while beginning to realize the true nature of the situation, are still reluctant to admit to how wrong they have been. When presented with the acid test questions for economists seeking sustainability: “Do you believe in infinite economic growth?” and, “Do you believe technology can substitute for natural capital?” World Bank economist Kieran Kelleher equivocated. Infinite economic growth, and the substitutability of technology for natural resources and functioning eco-systems, are the fundamental myths of our unsustainable economic system. To the first question, Kelleher posited that growth would be limited in areas of the economy that relied on natural resources. “What areas don’t ultimately rely on natural resources?” I asked. To the second question Kelleher acknowledged that there might be less substitutability than originally believed. These answers are mildly reassuring but far from the decisive understanding necessary to affect change. In some regards the financial crisis is the small-scale fishers’ best friend, because it is the only signal that registers in this system, and it is clearly saying, “something is wrong.” Of course we have all known that for a long time. The trouble is that the financial crisis does not indicate that the cultural structures and eco-systems that we need to survive have been plundered in the name of “economic growth.” Jean-Claude Yoyotte is a plainspoken fisher, and he asked for the podium when he addressed the audience in the last hours of the Small Scale Sustainable Fisheries conference, because as he said, he did not want his back to the people. A tall black man with grey hair and a wisp of a white goatee, dressed in simple clothes, he took the podium as though he owned it. “I have not said much,” he said. “I have been listening and watching, people and the flow of ideas.” He pointedly did not thank anyone. “When I say, thank you,” he said, “it means something. When someone does something for you or gives you a fish, we say thank you.” The inference was clear: the FAO had done nothing of real value for small-scale fishers. Jean-Claude went on, pointing out what was happening around the world, that fish are being killed for nothing and people are dying. “And for this we are supposed to say thank you?” he asked. Time was short and Jean-Claude did not mince words. “We cannot go home from here and go to sleep, say we had a good time in Thailand, and do nothing. The struggle must continue and the time has come to demand that the FAO become a tool for us to use, rather than a tool of government. The FAO does not do enough for us, government is not the answer, we are the answer, and together we should create a Tsunami effect, flood them. We all know that fish do not jump into the boat,” he said. “We have to work to catch fish, and we have to work for this.” In the final hours of a conference that had cost tens of thousands of dollars, Jean-Claude made a very important point. That it is the job of all small-scale fishing people to claim the tools that belong to them, to take over the FAO the way he had taken the podium. He had demonstrated the first little wavelet of the Tsunami effect he spoke about, and called on all of us to do the same. It is possible. Jean-Claude is a simple man, a fisher, Zoila has had the smell of fish on her hands since childhood, and the author of this article, has earned his living in this business since youth, and we all have stepped into the roles necessary to contribute to the survival of the fishing people and the cultures we care deeply about. But eventually those people have to take on the struggle in the form of a mass movement, and, as Jean-Claude said, create a Tsunami effect of action. |
