A Feminist Political Ecology of Commodity Fishing in Palau
Dr. Ferguson is a community-engaged marine social scientist whose research focuses on just, equitable, and resilient wild fisheries. Her talk will discuss how sea cucumber fisheries in Palau bolster Indigenous sovereignty and values, rural women’s livelihoods, and food security, all while responding to and resisting commoditization in foreign markets.
—Alia Ajina, MESM 2023
Watch a recording of this talk here
ABSTRACT
In Palau, sea cucumber fisheries promote food security, Indigenous values, and rural women's livelihoods. What happened when this culturally significant fishery became commoditized for export to foreign markets? Who benefited from the influx of dollars, and how? Who bears the costs of the fishery's degradation? How have communities mobilized in response? This intersectional case study demonstrates that fishing communities are not homogeneous, that the impacts of the seafood trade are not equitably distributed, and that fishers' resistance can save a resource from the brink to reassert Indigenous sovereignty.
BIO
Dr. Caroline Ferguson is a community-engaged marine social scientist. Her research, teaching, and advocacy center issues of equity and justice in seafood. Caroline earned her PhD from Stanford in Environment and Resources in 2021 before completing a Postdoctoral Scholar position at Bren from 2021-2022, where her research examined the barriers to and benefits of women's participation in fisheries management in Fiji. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Social Ocean Lab at the University of Maine and host of Surf and Turf: a seafood justice podcast. She also teaches Decolonizing Environmental Social Science Research with colleagues in Palau.