‘Storied’ Seafood & Community-led Technology

Dr. Serge Raemaekers is the Co-founder and Project Director of ABALOBI, a non-profit organisation. The programme aims to build traditional fishers’ agency to partake in decisions around the state of local marine resources and help fishers empower themselves to connect directly with restaurants and consumers for the sale of their artisanal products.

Since 2007, he has been contributing research findings and ideas to the South African small-scale fisheries policy development and implementation process, engaging with systems thinking and fisheries governance practice with the aim to recommend governance models and management approaches that are more applicable to small-scale fishers‘ realities. Further, Dr. Raemaekers also has considerable consulting and training expertise in the field of small-scale fisheries, and he also works closely with fish workers and fisher leaders along the coast. Most of his work is centered on social learning processes with local small-scale fishers, with the aim to ensure that the communities’ knowledge; needs and vision are adequately captured and incorporated in any planning and decision-making processes Abalobi This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.