Mon, June 26, 2017 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS RESEARCH LABORATORY (AERL). Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Watts, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.
Location: AERL 120
Dr. Watts will discuss the conceptual development of a travelling exhibition on fish and fishing and how they support sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities in Commonwealth SIDS. Combining the objectives of raising awareness of threats to livelihoods and simultaneously inspiring remedial action, how can we develop convincing narratives around solutions? How do we convey the impacts of climate change and overfishing; the value of small-scale fishing activities; fisherfolk culture and identity, traditional knowledge and practices, as well as the challenges and opportunities in the emergent Blue Economy? And how do we ensure better integration of culture into the Sustainable Development Goals?
The exhibition is planned as a cooperative venture with the Edmonton-based Commonwealth Association of Museums, to travel to SIDS to raise awareness of the global forces affecting their resilience as well as of successful efforts to improve sustainability of coastal fisheries.
The talk will consider the challenges of taking an exhibition to remote locations in poor countries, as well as the opportunities provided by replication, Virtual Reality, and linking with the resources of Google art and culture and the UNESCO Underwater Heritage Convention. It will include the options of using a converted shipping container, or of developing a distributed, multi-country programme with virtual links to museums from across the Commonwealth. The exhibition will include narratives of lives of traditional fishers and how their way of life is changing.