The symposium provided the opportunity to synthetize the results of the research carried out within the project and to draw the key lessons learned. Therefore, all the students involved in the two phases of the projects had to send their contributions, including abstract and poster (master student); abstract, poster and presentation (PhD student). In this context the second student’s award of Susfish+ took place on 26 September. After a rich presentation session covering various topics addressing fisheries development from different perspectives the selected students were awarded.
The contribution by Vincent-Paul, who received an award for the best thesis, was titled “Changes in structure, values and practices in food systems: Technical and institutional transitions in fisheries in Burkina Faso”. Over the last decades, technical and institutional changes in fisheries deeply shaped and transformed the arrangements and mechanisms of fisheries governance in Burkina Faso, from the national to local level. Traditional institutions are declining because of new religions, and the regulation that gives force to the state. But the implementation of the state management is still weak. The technical capacity of the fishermen was improved, increasing capture fishing productivity and the efficiency of the sector. However, the performance of fishing gears associated with the ‘commodification’ of fish lead to an increasing pressure on resources, threatening the socio-ecological sustainability. In this context fish farming has not been successfully established yet despite the high potential. However, a fish farming niche is emerging through a network of actors including the state, new policy narratives, strategy and policies, which aim at coping with the constraints such as the cost of investment, the lack of feed and fry, to boost the sector.
Vincent-Paul Sanon is currently a PhD Student from Burkina Faso, at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). His doctoral studies are embedded in the APPEAR Project SUSFISH+. He is researching on "Traditional fisheries practices in transition: Dynamics and implications in Burkina Faso". His scientific supervisors at BOKU Vienna are Stefan Vogel (Institute for Sustainable Economic Development) and Andreas Melcher (Institute for Development Research) and at University Nazi Boni in Burkina Faso Patrice Toe (Institute for Rural Development).
Vincent-Paul has a rich experience of collaboration in research on the health system in Burkina Faso and served as a research assistant in a project on community and equity in health. In 2012 he also taught Rural Sociology at the Catholic University of West Africa, University Unit in Bobo-Dioulasso.