Global fisheries to support local food systems

 

A dark skinned woman stands looking at the camera, the sea behind. She holds a flat plate of fish.

Photograph by Hazel Healy

Global fisheries to support local food systems

Professor Christina Hicks

 

Date: 30 April 2025, 16:00

Location: Oxford Martin School, seminar room 1 and online

 

 

Join us for a talk from Professor Christina Hicks, of Lancaster University.

Title: Global fisheries to support local food systems

Abstract: Fisheries are one of the last remaining systems of wild food, contributing vast benefits in the form of nutritious food, livelihoods, foreign revenue, and cultural identity. When orientated towards supporting territorial markets, these systems maintain a wealth of knowledge on who has the rights, powers and responsibilities to decide how areas and resources are used, shared, conserved, and developed. However, over the past few decades these systems of tenure have eroded, as the ability to access fishery benefits has been determined by the economic capacity of often distant nation's fleets and levels of state support. These changes have in turn undermined food security and exacerbated malnutrition in many regions of the world. In this talk I will explore the role and importance of fish to people's cultures, diets, and livelihoods around the world. I will then examine the political, economic and environmental challenges that are undermining these contributions; challenges that have exacerbated considerably in recent months and years, and end with some reflections on promising directions of change to support the role of fisheries for local food systems. 

Professor Christina Hicks is an interdisciplinary social scientist and marine conservationist at Lancaster University. Christina works on fisheries governance and conservation, food justice and nutrition, and the politics of fisheries finance. Christina is on the Leadership Team of the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy, Sustainable and Just Food Systems, on the Board of Directors of Oceana, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. She is a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, a Philip Leverhulme Prize winner, and RGS Gill Memorial awardee. 

A woman with dark curly hair smiles at the camera. She wears a coral necklace and dark blue skirt.

Join online 

Register to attend in person below.

 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=G96VzPWXk0-0uv5ouFLPkWk7SOhaqJlMsUc6atZ1a1JUOE5NVjczUzBHNjNFRTRXRjM5WDRVRUxFUi4u&embed=true

Upcoming events