Introduction to the Special Issue on Job Satisfaction in Fisheries in the Global South

The job satisfaction of capture fishers is of more than sectoral interest. On a practical level the relevance is as follows: capture fishing is known to contribute in a major way to the degradation of the world’s oceans (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment 2005), and could possibly be relieved if fishers are induced to move out of fishing (Pauly et al. 1989). Whether fishers are actually inclined to do so or not, however, depends at least partially on their levels of job satisfaction. Comparative studies of job satisfaction—as attempted in this special issue—throw light on the extent to which fishers are attached to their work and are willing to give it up for alternative professions. More specifically, such studies provide evidence of labor conditions in a profession known to be exceptionally tough and even dangerous (ICSF 2003). Academically too this special issue strives to make a contribution. Not only does it extend the reach of occupational studies of wellbeing and happiness to the unusual category of hunters and gatherers (Acheson 1981), but by attempting cross-cultural comparison, it is also methodologically innovative. The crucial question from this viewpoint is whether a single set of social indicators generates significant outcomes across various cultural and geographical settings (Bryman 2001).