In a well-managed fisheries system, one will expect easy and direct access to freshly harvested fish by people living in coastal communities whose identity and food culture are linked to the ocean. However, this is not the current situation in the coastal city of Limbe, Cameroon. Limbe is one of the four major coastal fishing communities in Cameroon with adjacency to the Atlantic Ocean, including Youpwe, Mabanda, and Kribi. For several generations, small-scale fishers used wooden boats and paddles, sometimes mounted with a motor engine, to harvest fish within 3-nautical miles of the coast. Every day, different fish species are caught and sold directly to consumers and, at times, to other locales, either fresh or processed. Women dominate fish processing and fish trade activities. Fishers are supported by their children, who increasingly declining to engage in fishing activities and are seeking other forms of employment.

Changes in the fish food system

There has been a drastic change in the fish food system in Limbe. As one 56-year-old fishmonger explained when asked about her experience:

“… compared to about 10 years back, there is no fish anymore. You can go to the beach and not be able to find fish to buy. Without fish, my children and I can’t eat.”

Such stories and challenges are now common in many coastal fishing communities around the world. Small-scale fishers have to travel longer distances and sometimes spend more days at sea to have a reasonable catch to cover their expenses and food for the family. Fishmongers who traditionally buy fresh fish from fishers at the beach are now resorting to other alternatives. As a ‘new normal,’ small-scale fishers now travel offshore to buy frozen fish from industrial vessels with the capacity and resources to catch more fish. Rather than harvesting fresh fish, fishers bring frozen fish onshore and sell it to fishmongers at a higher price. In Limbe, fresh fish, used  be a common food item in every local meal, but is now a precious commodity. A community that once enjoyed abundant and open access to fish, now finds itself dependent on a complex supply chain for fish. This shift is dramatically changing Limbe's place-based fish food system. People’s food security and livelihoods are also at risk.

Root causes: marginalization and injustices

So, how did the fisheries system in Limbe change? Aside from the obvious unfolding impacts of climate change , other major external factors have contributed to the rapid change in the fish food system. Since the early 2000s, foreign industrial fishing vessels began operations in Limbe, competing for fisheries resources with local small-scale fishers. Their unregulated activities have led to the rapid depletion of fish stocks and the marine ecosystem (Nyiawung et al., 2023). and their operations in the same fishing ground as the locals have often resulted in conflicts. The presence of these huge vessels directly harms the livelihoods and safety of local fishers. These ships often destroy the nets of small-scale fishers who do not have many avenues to complain or protest.

“… their nets catch everything at sea, so we go at times and waste a lot of petrol and come back with nothing.”

“The main problem is the foreign industrial fishing because we don’t have fish this year. This is the month [September] with plenty of catches, but we go to the sea, and the water is very clean. There is no fish, so feeding the family is difficult, especially for some of us who have not migrated to different fishing areas.”

The Cameroon government seldom establishes policies that protect or empower small-scale fishers in the country to self-govern fishing activities and operations at sea. Small-scale fish actors are being marginalized by foreign vessel operators who are protected by the Cameroonian military, which at times facilitate the confiscation of their boats and fish nets (Mcmaster & McArthur, 2022). In Limbe, this situation leaves small-scale fish actors  to confront oppression from both foreign vessels and the local government. Such injustices are common around the wider West and Central African coast where migrant fish actors dominate fishing activities.

Cultivating a ‘just’ fish food system

In an open fisheries system, access to and participation in fisheries activities is the right of the people, although often challenged by several external drivers. To ensure justice and inclusion the following measures are imperative:

1. Ensuring the freedom to advocate for fairness, justice, and equity through exclusive use rights. This is an important aspect of securing food sovereignty and fundamental human rights of actors within the fish food system.
2. Balancing the capital gains from industrial fishing activities should be one that does not compromise access, food security and wellbeing of small-scale fish actors and people in coastal communities.
3. (Re)organizing the management system of the fish food system in a way that includes and empowers marginalized actors in decision making is an important step in supporting justice and inclusion.
4. Building capacity and  empowerment opportunities of local fish actors is critical to supporting sustainable fisheries management and better advocacy for their rights and inclusion, which promotes viability of the system.