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Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa experience delayed linkage to and poor retention in HIV care. Identifying and addressing specific barriers in HIV care programming is important to achieving the upgraded UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets and epidemic control. We examined these challenges among 103 HIV-positive AGYW in and out of HIV care in communities around Lake Victoria in western Kenya as part of a larger qualitative study to identify drivers of HIV testing and HIV care utilisation in key populations. We used the social-ecological model to guide development of interview guides. Individual-level barriers included denial and forgetfulness and gendered household responsibilities, medication side effects, especially if taken without food, pills being too big and difficult to swallow and the burden of a daily medication-taking regimen. Interpersonal barriers included troubled family relationships and pervasive fears of stigma and discrimination by friends and family. Communitylevel barriers were stigmatising attitudes toward people living with HIV. Health-system barriers included negative provider attitudes and confidentiality breaches. At the structural level, participants noted high costs due to long travel times to facilities, long clinic waiting times, household food insecurity and school and work commitments. AGYW's limited decision-making autonomy due to age and gender norms, including their reliance on the authority of older adults, makes these barriers especially troubling. Innovative treatment approaches that take into account the unique vulnerabilities of AGYW are urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservative Japanese politicians, academics, and journalists regularly state that whaling is an essential part of their national heritage, expressed in material culture, folk songs, ritual practices, and festivals. Japan has several whale festivals (kujira matsuri): playful events at which participants re-enact Edo-period (1600–1868) coastal whaling practices and perform whaling-related songs and dances. This article compares the festivals of Taiji (Wakayama), Kayoi (Yamaguchi), Shinkami-gotō (Nagasaki), and Ayukawa (Miyagi). It argues that these festivals not only have economic and social significance for the communities in question; they also support the notion of Japan as a traditional whaling nation. By organising and participating in these festivals, local priests, volunteers, and audiences enact this imagined whaling heritage, thus supporting the agenda of the present-day whaling industry. However, local actors have their own motivations and interests, and in fact the celebration of whaling heritage is not contingent upon the continuation of whaling today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a major global health concern. Although it is prevalent in Kenya, there is scant literature on what factors contribute to CSA vulnerability on Kenya's islands. This paper is based on a cross-sectional study of men's perspectives on factors contributing to CSA vulnerability on Kenya's islands. This qualitative study, therefore, focused on opinion leaders, children's officers, male community members, and boat owners from selected islands (Mageta, Magare, Oyamo and Ndeda) in western Kenya. Several factors emerged as contributing to CSA vulnerability on the islands: social stigmatisation and cultural sensitivity of CSA, proximity to social services, unrestricted migration, perceptions of legal costs, lack of committed witnesses, and commodification of sex for economic survival. This article recommends a local, targeted campaign for these fishing communities that promotes common goals, such as a safe and healthy environment for children, and working together to achieve these goals. Such a campaign has the potential to bring together a community to fight CSA and to increase its bargaining power to reduce CSA vulnerability. When a community does not agree on shared principles and expectations, deviant behaviour such as CSA has room to flourish, because community members cannot effectively organise themselves against it. It is hoped that the findings in this article might contribute some key insights on vulnerability experienced in remote areas that might be used by policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol use, intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV infection are associated, but few programmes and interventions have addressed their synergistic relationship or been evaluated for effectiveness and acceptability. This is a critical gap in populations with high rates of alcohol use, HIV and IPV, such as Uganda's fishing communities. This study examined drinking norms, barriers and facilitators to engagement in a risk reduction programme, and ideas for tailoring. Results showed that alcohol use is common in fishing villages. While men and women drink, gendered notions of femininity deem alcohol largely unacceptable for women. Plastic sachets of liquor were the most common alcoholic drink. Participants did not understand the definition of 'hazardous drinking', but recognised connections between drinking, violence and sexual risk-taking. The idea of an alcohol, IPV and HIV risk reduction intervention was supported, but barriers need to be addressed, including how best to help those uninterested in reducing their drinking, addressing normalisation of drinking and how best to inform those who truly need intervention. Intervention to people living with HIV around the time of diagnosis and treatment may be warranted. Study findings highlight the potential to integrate alcohol and IPV reduction programmes into an HIV service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishing communities in Uganda have high rates of excessive alcohol consumption and negative health outcomes related to alcohol consumption, such as HIV acquisition and transmission and intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration. Research lacks understanding of alcohol use in Ugandan fishing communities, underlying reasons for excessive drinking among fishermen or how their community perceives negative health outcomes linked to excessive alcohol consumption. This qualitative study was conducted among Ugandan fisherfolk to determine why excessive alcohol consumption has overtaken their communities. Through analyzing in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, reasons for drinking and community perceptions of drinking were explored using the Socio Ecological Model and the Time Perspective Theory. Interviews were coded into two content themes: social influences on drinking and using alcohol to cope with stress. Participants acknowledged links between excessive alcohol consumption and negative health outcomes within their families and communities. These findings highlight the need for alcohol-related reduction interventions that are sensitive to contextual factors and self-identified contributors to problematic alcohol use within individuals and their communities. Such interventions must consider the social, ecological and economic conditions within fishing sites, focusing not only on individual-level behavioral change but also challenging the underlying structures that foster excessive alcohol consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores living conditions of people in Senegalese fishing communities in relation to environmental change and unregulated fishing by foreign boats, weakening local opportunities and increasing forced migration of youth, creating problems for the future development of local fishery communities. It employs a postcolonial perspective and analyzes data collected through interviews with individuals from Senegalese fishing communities, social workers and relevant documents. The results show local reactions based on alliances between social workers and local community members to overfishing and the need for national and global structural changes. It is argued that EU's fishing agreements with Senegalese government is one of the reasons behind youths' forced migration to EU countries and that the betterment of the living conditions of fishery communities in Senegal requires not only already emerging alliances between social workers and local community members, but also national and global structural changes to protect Africa's fishing communities and local fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Uganda, alcohol consumption is associated with higher HIV prevalence. However, research is needed to better understand how different patterns of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems may drive this association. In this cross-sectional study, we examined how hazardous alcohol use and alcohol-related problems such as psychological, physical, and social harms are associated with HIV status in fishing communities in Uganda. 300 (132 male, 168 female) residents of fishing communities in Uganda (75 participants from each of the following occupational groups: fishmongers, alcohol sellers, commercial sex workers (CSW), and fishermen) completed an interviewer-assisted computerized interview. We captured information on sociodemographics and HIV testing history. Prior 12-month hazardous alcohol consumption patterns and alcohol-related problems were assessed with the AUDIT and AUDADIS. 19.7%, 58.0%, and 23.3% of the sample reported being HIV positive, being HIV negative from a test within the prior 12 months, and not knowing their HIV status respectively. 18.7% reported the co-occurrence of hazardous alcohol consumption patterns and alcohol-related problems. 7.7% reported either hazardous alcohol consumption patterns or alcohol-related problems. Compared to non-drinkers, those with co-occurring hazardous consumption and alcohol-related problems had greater odds of being HIV positive (adjOR 2.75, 95% CI 1.17-6.43) and of unknown HIV status (adjOR 3.35, 95% CI 1.52-7.42). Reporting only hazardous consumption levels, only alcohol-related problems, or low-risk drinking, did not increase the odds of being HIV positive or of unknown status. Among those not HIV positive, those with co-occurring hazardous consumption and alcohol-related problems had greater odds of never having had an HIV test (adjOR 3.78, 95% CI 1.63-8.68). The co-occurrence of hazardous alcohol use and alcohol related problems appears to be a prominent risk factor for HIV infection, not knowing one's HIV status, and never testing for HIV in this setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishing community social networks function as channels for transfer of fishery knowledge, resources, and business transactions that help mitigate risks and shocks associated with altered access to fishery resources. Research on such networks in Alaska is limited despite their cultural importance and community reliance on fisheries. We contribute to scholarship of fishery social networks by assessing Alaska fishing community perspectives of challenges related to fisheries policy and management, and the existing social networks that aid in overcoming these challenges. Our findings show that the greatest challenges fishing communities face pertaining to fishery management are high costs of participating in catch share programs, restricted subsistence fishing activity due to decline in salmon, and complex regulations. Social networks exist for coping with these challenges; fishery information, and resources such as food, fuel and medicines are shared between communities. However, networks for accessing fishery support services are centralized in fewer larger communities and hubs such as Anchorage. Smaller and remote communities are the most compromised in this regard given the distance they must travel to access fishery support services. Leveraging social networks for sharing resources and improving fishery support services in smaller communities will increase their adaptive capacity and ability to maintain participation in Alaska fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catch share programs are used in fisheries management to meet goals such as species recovery, overcapacity reduction, and economic efficiency. Anticipated impacts include fleet consolidation, infrastructure reduction, and social disruption within communities. The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Social Study (PCGFSS) aims to understand social changes related to the recently implemented West Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program. In this article, we use a subset of PCGFSS data to explore the ways remaining fishery participants have thus far adapted to catch shares. While some vessels have left the fishery, we found that many participants are adapting to this catch shares program despite challenges. Quota leasing strategies, fishery diversification, gear innovation, and community quota funds are some of the tools participants are using to continue operating under the catch shares program. These early challenges and adaptations to the catch share program are worthy of continued tracking, as researchers, managers, and fishing communities, would benefit by considering first-hand perspectives of the on-the-ground realities of harvesting groundfish in the rationalized fishery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a critical analysis of the process involved in transforming small-scale artisanal production of solar salt into large-scale industrial production by Produsal in Los Olivitos Wildlife Refuge and Fishing Reserve in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. In doing so, it highlights the socioecological impacts resulting from this process in the wetland and the fishing community of Ancón de Iturre. Using political economy of nature as a theoretical framework, especially notions of the formal subsumption of nature, materiality of natural resources, and the commodification of nature, this article explores how the biophysical characteristic of salt and the ecosystem where it is contained present a specific set of natural obstacles for its production; the different strategies used by Produsal to overcome these obstacles; and the social and ecological contradictions embedded in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Time and time again, Indigenous people throughout the world are faced with the need to reassert their way of life, and to “buck” political and social systems that continually marginalize their treaty rights. In this article, I explore the role of Indigenous activism at different scales—personal, tribal, and collective—to intervene in key moments to uphold treaty rights and protect Indigenous ways of life. In defending treaty rights, Indigenous peoples have become leaders in the social and environmental justice movement, particularly in relation to climate justice and fishing rights. The article recounts three ethnographies that illustrate how access to rights is wrapped up in geopolitics and the political economy. Highlighting these acts of resilience and leadership in the face of crisis is the central work of this article. The article concludes with a call to fundamentally rethink governance mechanisms and structures, to protect ecological and human health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl Fishery transitioned to a catch shares program in January 2011. The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Social Study was designed to measure associated social changes and impacts on individuals and communities. Selected survey and interview data from the baseline data collection in 2010 and the first supplemental data collection effort in 2012 are aggregated at the community level and analyzed for initial signs of social change. Communities are sorted into top-, mid-, and low-tier communities based on the percentage of quota share (QS) permit owners that live in each community. A higher number of QS permit owners in a place is expected to result in relatively greater benefits to those communities. Questions analyzed include percent of income from fishing, multiple jobs worked, job stability, job satisfaction, standard of living, and how individuals were personally affected. Significant results for TOP-tier communities include increases in working multiple jobs, which may be negative or positive depending on the respondent, and improvements in job satisfaction. LOW-tier communities indicate significant improvements in standard of living. MID-tier communities appear to be in the middle, with no significant changes. Interview data indicate variation between owners, where some can fish their allocations and others need to lease more to fish. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The relationship between the fishing industry and the fisheries-related support service sector creates economic benefits for communities through the strong linkages between fishermen and their land-based suppliers and the induced or multiplier effects from fisheries revenue. The support service sector is embedded within fishing communities where the impacts of fisheries management changes are perpetuated. This article examines the potential for such impacts by evaluating the diversity of fishing gear use, ex-vessel revenue, presence of processing plants, public moorage, and haul-out or tidal grids, and the number of vessels in a community, in relation to the availability of support services in communities in Alaska. The results show that the presence of a processor and haul-out facilities in a community significantly affects the number of support service businesses; however, there is not a strong association with the number of vessels or ex-vessel revenue. One hypothesis is that fishermen often travel to other communities to obtain services. We evaluate this hypothesis using social network analysis to evaluate transfers of revenue for fishery-related goods and services. Ultimately, this informs the exploration of the importance of support service businesses and fishery-support infrastructure to the continued well-being of fishing communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: To examine gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in access to eye care services in marine fishing communities in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey was a door-to-door, cross-sectional survey conducted between March 2009 and April 2010 in fishing communities in Keamari, Karachi, located on the coast of the Arabian Sea. Adults aged ≥50 years living on three islands and in four coastal areas were enrolled. Participants underwent a detailed interview regarding sociodemographics, eye problems and eye care service use, testing of presenting and best-corrected visual acuity with a reduced logMAR chart, and detailed eye examination. Results: A total of 700 people were planned to be included in the study; 638 (91.1%) were interviewed and examined. Most participants were extremely poor and had no formal education. Only 45.3% (95% confidence interval, CI, 41.4–49.2%) of participants reported having had an eye examination in the past; 12.1% (95% CI 9.5–14.6%) and 30.9% (95% CI 27.3–34.5%) had seen an eye doctor within the last year or prior 5 years, respectively. In the multivariable analysis, ethnicity was the strongest independent predictor of eye care service use, followed by self-reported eye problems and diabetes. Ethnic Bengalis were 4.2 times less likely (adjusted odds ratio 0.24, 95% CI 0.15–0.38;p < 0.001) to have had an eye examination in the past than Kutchis. Conclusions: Despite a high prevalence of visual impairment and blindness, levels of eye care examinations in fishing communities, especially among ethnic Bengalis, are disappointingly low. Such communities deserve particular attention in Vision 2020 and other national and international strategies and plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of rural communities is a key element in understanding economic activities and conserving successful methods of resource management and social organisation. The conceptual and operational research axes were interdisciplinary environmental geography and integrative concept landscape. A participatory geographic information system (PGIS) was built to incorporate scientific and local knowledge. Regional landscape changes were analysed in fishing communities of the Mexican North Pacific, based on three historical maps. The main land- and seascape changes were: extensive stockbreeding disappeared; intensive agriculture increased; human settlements expanded; and fishing zones were created, divided and expanded seawards. Marine environment was the most changeable territory, reflecting the dominance of fishing activities. The PGIS proved to be a useful tool for identifying and understanding the changes in fishery management and the resulting dynamics of marine landscape zoning in the various communities, and in future projects would be equally applicable to coastal management and territorial organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If access to commercial licenses has been limited, then understanding the factors that contribute to movement out of these fisheries (fisheries exit) has value for managers. Studies on the causes of fisheries exit have focused on economic or social factors, but rarely both. I test the relative influence of 15 social and economic attributes from the fisheries exit and job satisfaction literature on fishermen's expectation of eventual exit from fisheries, with the hope that this will contribute to better predictions of fisheries participation and useful feedback for current management. I use available data from four comprehensive demographic and attitudinal surveys in North Carolina. Participation in the state's limited-access commercial fisheries has steadily declined since 2000, leading to concerns that the long-term infrastructure of the industry may be collapsing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural hazards lead to unexpected and often dire situations for people who have few resources and little control over the environment in which they live. Kutubdia, an island in the southeastern part of Bangladesh, experiences frequent natural hazards that impact the livelihoods of its people and put them in vulnerable situations. The research elaborated here is the result of 300 household surveys collected from persons in Kutubdia's fishing communities. The surveys investigated the perception and consequences of natural hazards on the fishing communities. The results indicated that the experience of natural hazards-cyclones, erosion, and flooding are examples-have increased over the years. Coastal erosion displaced seventy-two (24 percent) fishers, forcing them to relocate their houses several times and imposing multiple challenges on their lives. Literacy was not associated with perceptions of environmental changes or changes in fishing. However, young fishers-less than forty years of age-perceived that environmental changes had affected fish catch more than their older colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of social indicators in this analysis of coastal communities enhances the evaluation of the combined impacts of changes in fisheries management regulations and gentrification for fisheries social impact assessments. Increasing population pressure, declining fish stocks, and the attractiveness of natural amenities have all led to demographic shifts and economic transformations for many coastal communities dependent on fishing. This impact of “gentrification” on the commercial fishing industry often precipitates a move toward non-marine based economies that can displace local residents and their dependence on fishing as a way of life with resulting impacts to local economies and cultures. Drawing on the United States Census, National Marine Fisheries Service, and other secondary data sources, social indicators were developed for 2,948 coastal communities in the Eastern United States and Gulf Coast and were used to evaluate gentrification pressure in select communities highly engaged in fishing. We anticipate this methodology, when groundtruthed and then combined with time-series assessments, will lead to improvements in the assessment of fishing community vulnerability and resilience for the conduct of fisheries social impact assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study describes the nature, context and implications of a unique form of transactional sexual relationships in the fishing communities along Lake Victoria in Kisumu County, Kenya. We conducted 12 focus group discussions and 17 key informant interviews among fishermen, fishmongers and fish transporters in Kisumu. Women fishmongers in the fishing communities commonly form relationships with fishermen, which are often sexual, as part of the jaboya system, wherein women who wish to sell fish in the market secure the rights to purchase the fish caught by the fishermen. Due to the nature and context of the sexual intercourse, sex typically occurs in a hurried manner, often without preparation or protection. Thus, by engaging in a web of these relationships, conducted in contexts that compromise their ability to practice safer sex, men and women in these fishing communities are at increased risk of HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis from research and practice in Africa shows that fishing communities are hardly reached by HIV-related services, education, and business services, partly because of the efforts and costs involved and a lack of good practice in reaching out to these often remote areas. At the same time, fish traders, especially women, travel regularly to remote fishing camps to purchase fish. Although female fish traders may be exposed to HIV, violence and abuse in their interactions and relationships with fishermen, economic necessity keeps them in this trade. Good health among fisherfolk is a basic mainstay of productive and sustainable fisheries, providing food and income to fishing communities and the nation at large. However, these benefits are severely at risk as per-capita fish supplies in several African countries are declining, and fisherfolk are among the populations most vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. Under the regional programme 'Fisheries and HIV/AIDS in Africa: Investing in sustainable solutions,' the WorldFish Center conducted a socioeconomic assessment in the Kafue Flats fishery in Zambia to identify factors related to HIV/AIDS vulnerability among people in the fishing communities, particularly female fish traders. The study identified a variety of factors, hence the 'Fish Trader+' model of intervention was developed to reduce female fish traders' vulnerability to HIV by building on their economic rationale through the formation of savings groups. This article outlines the implementation of the Fish Trader+ model in Zambia and examines its potential to empower female fish traders so as to reduce poverty and vulnerability to HIV in fishing communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA) and other legal mandates, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is conducting basic social science research on fishing communities. This basic research differs from issue-driven social impact assessments in that it does not address pending policy changes or specified locations. As a consequence, NMFS's basic social science research must cover very large geographic scales and address a broad array of analytical issues. These needs are in tension with the traditional ethnographic methods of anthropology and the MSFCMA's focus on the community as a unit of analysis. This paper describes how anthropologists at NMFS's Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Northwest Fisheries Science Center navigate these conflicting imperatives by adopting large-scale community profiling using social and fishing indicators informed by ethnographic site visits, and advocating a ‘nested-scale’ analytical framework that imbricates the community level analytical unit with macro-level considerations related to regional and global forces and micro-level dynamics related to intra-community heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]