Who owns the data? Fisheries science, epistemic power, and Russia–Africa relations.

The article examines fisheries science as a critical site of epistemic power within Russia–Africa relations, focusing on the politics of data ownership and its implications for governance and sovereignty in African coastal states. It argues that control over fisheries data, methodologies, and scientific infrastructure—collectively termed epistemic infrastructure—shapes regulatory authority, access negotiations, and states' capacity to manage marine resources, often reproducing asymmetrical dependencies rooted in historical patterns of knowledge extraction. Through case studies in Namibia, Senegal, Mauritania, and Mozambique, the analysis highlights how Russian fisheries cooperation combines technical capacity-building with enduring external influence over data and decision-making. The article further discusses African efforts to reclaim data sovereignty and integrate local ecological knowledge, situating these within decolonial and environmental justice frameworks that call for equitable, transparent, and locally grounded fisheries governance.