Dr Serge Raemaekers

Designation: Lecturer, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science (EGS), UCT
Expertise: small-scale fisheries governance, marine spatial planning, fisheries information systems, livelihoods, co-management, socio-economic research and community participation.

Biography:

Serge joined the EGS Dept in April 2009, after having completed my PhD at Rhodes University where his research focussed on the analysis of the governance approaches to high-value abalone and lobster fisheries in the Eastern Cape Province.  Serge has a natural science background with an MSc degree in bioscience engineering from the University of Ghent (Belgium, 2003), and has expertise in interdisciplinary research on understanding and assessing livelihoods and fishing practices, while undertaking participatory ecological and socio-economic research with local rural communities. Since 2007, Serge has  been contributing research findings and ideas to the South African small-scale fisheries policy development and implementation process, engaging with systems thinking and fisheries governance practice with the aim to recommend governance models and management approaches that are more applicable to small-scale fishers‘ realities. Further, Serge also has considerable consulting and training expertise in the field of small-scale fisheries. Serge also works closely with fishworkers and fisher leaders along the coast.  Most of his work is centered on social learning processes with local small-scale fishers, with the aim to ensure that the communities’ knowledge; needs and vision are adequately captured and incorporated in any planning and decision-making processes.

Climate change and Development link:

In 2015, Serge was one of the co-founders of the ‘‘Abalobi’ initiative in South Africa. The Abalobi initiative is an open, transdisciplinary and social learning endeavour,and a participatory action research project with a strong community development interface, bringing together various stakeholders, with traditional fishers taking centre stage as they direct the design and uptake of the Abalobi mobile app.The free mobile app and programme, are aimed at social justice and poverty alleviation in the small-scale fisheries chain, transformation in the way we produce knowledge, stewardship of our marine resources, and resilience building in the face of Climate Change. Since 2015 the Abalobi team has grown to include important stakeholders driven to address the small-scale fishers’ challenges.