TY - JOUR

T1 - Marine Degradation and Market Dependency in Ghana

T2 - Food Sovereignty as a Critique of Capital in Aquatic Food Systems

AU - Standen, Sophie

PY - 2025/4/17

Y1 - 2025/4/17

N2 - Small‐scale fisheries constitute a vital source of food for millions of people, despite facing increasing marginalisation. Food sovereignty is a global social movement that calls attention to the marginalisation of small‐scale food producers in capitalist, corporate‐controlled food systems. This paper develops a food sovereign approach to understanding issues affecting small‐scale fisheries' aquatic food systems. Using qualitative empirical data, it focuses on women post‐harvest workers and the industrial trawling sector in Ghana. Industrial trawling has engendered marine degradation through overfishing, causing a reliance on buying imported and trawler‐caught fish, due to a lack of accessible and affordable fish from the small‐scale sector. The adverse ecological consequences of marine capitalist overexploitation are a key driver in creating the cyclical conditions for capitalist market dependency in Ghanaian fisheries. Examining how marine capitalist overexploitation propels market dependency can help illuminate the complexities of moving towards aquatic food sovereignty in the contemporary world.

AB - Small‐scale fisheries constitute a vital source of food for millions of people, despite facing increasing marginalisation. Food sovereignty is a global social movement that calls attention to the marginalisation of small‐scale food producers in capitalist, corporate‐controlled food systems. This paper develops a food sovereign approach to understanding issues affecting small‐scale fisheries' aquatic food systems. Using qualitative empirical data, it focuses on women post‐harvest workers and the industrial trawling sector in Ghana. Industrial trawling has engendered marine degradation through overfishing, causing a reliance on buying imported and trawler‐caught fish, due to a lack of accessible and affordable fish from the small‐scale sector. The adverse ecological consequences of marine capitalist overexploitation are a key driver in creating the cyclical conditions for capitalist market dependency in Ghanaian fisheries. Examining how marine capitalist overexploitation propels market dependency can help illuminate the complexities of moving towards aquatic food sovereignty in the contemporary world.

KW - industrial trawling

KW - marine degradation

KW - Ghana

KW - market dependency

KW - food sovereignty

U2 - 10.1111/joac.70013

DO - 10.1111/joac.70013

M3 - Journal article

JO - Journal of Agrarian Change

JF - Journal of Agrarian Change

SN - 1471-0358

M1 - e70013

ER -