Hello Niaz,,

We kicked off 2024 with a staff retreat in Gloucester, MA, where we had the chance to collectively dream and scheme. When our team talks about NAMA’s work, we often use the analogy of a garden, exploring our role as birds, bees, and worms. Last year, we visually mapped out this garden ecosystem, starting in the soil with foundational underground forces like capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism, as well as deep plant roots we want to nurture, like community-based efforts, food sovereignty, and harmony with the marine ecosystem. 

This year, we spent some time diving into the colonialism root, along with its counterpart that can be thought of as community and food sovereignty. Many challenges to the ocean can be traced back to colonization and the onset of consolidated control over fisheries access. Niaz walked us through the history of when schooners first came over to Turtle Island, loaded with dories that allowed settlers to pursue fish with heightened intensity. At the same time, as part of the genocide and displacement they wrought, colonizers cut off Indigenous communities’ access to fish and fishing traditions. Today, the ugly roots of industrial fishing — with its focus on single species, its hyper efficiency, and its disregard for the rhythms of nature and place — stem from the seeds of colonialism. As do the privatization and corporate takeover of the ocean commons, originally stolen from Native peoples.

Through the course of our retreat, we kept revisiting this root of colonialism, asking ourselves how we can commit more deeply to anti-colonialism and food sovereignty in all facets of our work, while making sure to move at the speed of trust. This is a question we will continue to explore thoroughly. We also acknowledged that part of this work is done on an individual level. All of us have a relationship with colonization to unpack. For myself, I’m feeling motivated to process my own family’s histories of migration, diaspora, and the roles my ancestors and I have played as colonized and colonizers both. I’m also looking forward to reading a book that Estefanía recommended: “Savages,” by Joe Kane. And I’m filled with pride to be part of a flourishing garden ecosystem that is always stretching deeper into the soil and growing taller toward the light. 

Yours in growth,

Feini 

P.S. If your New Years’s resolution was to read more and you’d like to dive into Savages too, let me know! Would love to be reading buddies.

Save the date for a virtual panel discussion with Don't Cage Our Oceans on Friday, February 9 at 11am ET/ 8am PT! We've all heard the hype around the Blue Revolution, the New Blue Economy, and Blue Growth. Might sound great, but too often these words are used to justify or gloss over ocean privatization, enclosure, and displacement of small-scale fishers around the world. With a panel of experts we'll dig into bluewashing, examine its mechanisms, and learn how to approach the blue buzz with a critical lens. Follow Don’t Cage Our Oceans to stay tuned for more details.

We are honored to be among the most recent new members of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples, a massive movement of 10 million+ fisher peoples from around the globe. The WFFP recognized NAMA’s work around 2010 when we began organizing fishing communities to confront the corporate takeover of fisheries access. We knew then our problems were not unique to the United States. Check out the WFFP report the Global Ocean Grab. We attended our first WFFP General Assembly in 2017 in India and now look forward to providing logistic support and more to the WFFP for the upcoming General Assembly in Brazil this November.

Have you always wanted a NAMA hoodie? Now’s your chance! We’ve got hoodies, aprons, and onesies for the littlest fishes among our movement! Our merch is made in the US by Worx Printing Co-op, a worker-owned union coop and printed with water-based, organic, toxin-free, vegan ink. They’re PVC free, contain no phthalates and are safe for babies!