From Shore to Fork: Reevaluating Recreational Fishing as A Self- Provisioning, Alternative Seafood Network

The global seafood system faces many environmental, economic, and social challenges, including overfishing, industrialization, privatization, and the disappearance of small-scale fisheries, among others. All of these issues impact global food security. Alternative seafood networks (ASNs) aim to address these challenges through spatial and social transformations within local and regional seafood systems, such as shortening supply chains and educating consumers on how to source local seafood. Prominently recognized ASNs include community supported fisheries, local fish markets, seafood cooperatives, and pop-up farmer’s markets. This study employed an ethnographic approach comprised of semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and photographic documentation to investigate the contributions of on-shore, “recreational,” saltwater fishing on local and regional seafood systems in Rhode Island, USA. This paper aims to highlight the importance of ASNs in addressing food security, but also acknowledge the shortcomings. We contend that recreational fishing, when practiced for self-provisioning purposes, should be considered as an ASN and that informal markets and networks need to be incorporated into the ASN literature. We conclude, first, that recreational fishing can be an important food source, and thus coastal access should be considered as a food access issue. Second, seafood sourced through prominently recognized ASNs is not accessible to everyone, but self-provisioned seafood from recreational fishing can help address the gaps unmet by ASNs. Lastly, by acknowledging already existing, informal networks, specifically self- and community-food provisioning, we can learn to support the people and networks that currently provide sustainable seafood access to historically food-insecure communities.