Blue Justice and the co-production of hermeneutical resources for small-scale fisheries

Abstract

Blue Justice emerges as a counternarrative to the promise and commitment to Blue Economy and Blue Growth by shifting imperatives for growth and innovation to the central role played by small-scale fisheries and social justice in sustainable ocean development. To instrument Blue Justice, it is important to understand injustices experienced by small-scale fisheries people which can range from accusations of disregard for the environment to equating their fishing practices as illegal, or even the sudden usurpation of their customary fishing grounds and means of livelihoods. Drawing on Fricker’s concept of epistemic injustice, we examine how discrimination and lack of interpretative concepts to communicate unjust experiences wrongs small-scale fisheries people in their capacity as knowledge holders and subjects them to testimonial and hermeneutical injustice. We examine 20 testimonies of injustices experienced by small-scale fisheries people collected by the Global Research Network “Too Big To Ignore” (TBTI) and suggest a glossary of new concepts that can be used to interpret these experiences. Our results exemplify the presence of epistemic injustice, emphasizing the need to associate injustices in small-scale fisheries with non-conventional terms or concepts. We discuss the contribution of transdisciplinary research for providing such concepts and the potential role of social scientists and action researchers to enhance collective hermeneutical resources and thereby advance the goal of Blue Justice for small-scale fisheries.