Off the coast of Timor-Leste, fishers are building something many countries still lack: A clearer picture of how small-scale fishing nourishes people. For six years, fishers have logged their trips and recorded the gear used, the habitats visited and the catch brought home in a digital system built with the government of Timor-Leste. More than 77,000 trips later, that data has produced a study that urges governments to change how they think about fisheries management. The value of a catch is not just measured in kilos; where people fish and the gear they use can shape the nutrients that end up in local diets. Small pelagic fish can be rich in iron, calcium, zinc and omega-3s, while marine invertebrates gathered by hand, often by women and usually overlooked in official statistics, can also be nutritionally important. That matters because fisheries are too often managed around what is landed and sold, not who is nourished. A session during the Our Ocean conference in Mombasa, Kenya. Image by Malavika Vyawahare/Mongabay. After the first Our Ocean Conference held on African soil, this evidence feels especially timely. That event in Mombasa in June put Africa’s ocean future in the global spotlight, but the real test now is whether new commitments help countries build the systems needed to manage aquatic foods for people and not just for production, trade and conservation. Now the question is what those commitments will deliver. For decades, fisheries management has been built around one question: How many tons were landed?…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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