‘ Bahari Imekufa, The Sea is Dead’
Local Perceptions of Ocean Health and Ocean Wealth among Fishers on the Kenyan Coast
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21242480 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jauquelyne Kosgei (0000-0002-0359-556X, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 20-31 |
| Publication date | 2024-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2327-7408 • E-ISSN: 2327-7416 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23277408.2024.2304421 |
| OpenAlex | W4391786173 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
Using narratives that I recorded in June/July 2021 on Kenya’s south coast with fishers belonging to three different generations, this paper provides insights into local articulations of changes that have happened in the sea over time. These changes — which call to mind ocean wealth and ocean health — have culminated in the increasing unproductivity of the ocean, which has led some shore folk to imagine that ‘the sea is dead’, as one of my interlocutors phrased it. What has caused the death of the sea? What does it mean for the sea to die? What will a dead ocean look like and what implications will it have for fishers? How are fishers responding to threats of a dying sea? By examining the local articulations of changes that are happening in the sea, I attempt answers to these questions. I also ask: How do the shore folk on the Kenyan coast account for these changes? In trying to seek answers to the factors underlying these changes, I am confronted with accounts of rituals that have been discontinued and find that these discontinued rituals have been put forth as explanations for the changes in question, most of which are negative
Biology · Fishery · Geography · Kenya · Perception · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Coastal and Marine Management · International Maritime Law Issues · Psychology · Ecology · Geology · Oceanography
| Highly cited | No |
|---|