Enhancing fisheries through cross-border knowledge sharing: Reporting on a Timor-Leste–Indonesia exchange

Abstract

This brief highlights the outcomes of a cross-border knowledge exchange between Timor-Leste and Indonesian fishing communities under the Nutrition-Sensitive Fisheries Management (NSFM) project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The exchange was a collaboration among WorldFish Timor-Leste, the Timor-Leste Directorate General of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Resources Management (DG-PAGRA), Nusa Cendana University (UNDANA), and the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). The aim of the exchange was to use practical training and collaborative engagement to strengthen small-scale actors along the aquatic food value chain. Over 4 days (March 11–14, 2025), fishers, gleaners, fish processors and traders from Binagua in Baucau Municipality, Timor-Leste, visited three villages in Belu District in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The participants from Timor-Leste engaged with their Indonesian counterparts, exploring novel fishing techniques, gear maintenance, and fish processing and marketing while reviving historical cross-border relationships.