Stories Participatory Action Research enhances fish smokers’ willingness to adopt social change and technology innovation in Lagos, Nigeria 04 June, 2023 Kafayat Fakoya, Ayojesutomi Abiodun-Solanke, Adenike Boyo, Shehu Akintola, Kafayat Ajelara, Mayowa Olasope and Ismot Olabamiji Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a crucial method for appreciating and making use of local knowledge. It can produce knowledge that is useful for enhancing small-scale fisheries and livelihoods based on fishing. A recent project in Nigeria focused on the use of PAR to change the beliefs, dispositions, and ...

With deep regret, I convey the sad news that Dr M.C. Nandeesha, the inspiration for starting the Asian Fisheries Society’s Gender/Women in Fisheries/Aquaculture activities in the early 1990s, has passed away in Chennai, India. Farewell Dr Nandeesha. Source: Dr Mohan Joseph Modayil The gender and fisheries community, and others such as the fisheries education and aquaculture research and development communities, convey their sincere condolences to his highly esteemed widow, Mrs B Rajeswari Dayal, and their son. ...

The National Network on Women in Fisheries in the Philippines, Inc. held its 6th Biennial National Conference on Gender and Fisheries on September 19-21, 2012 at Hotel Alejandro, Tacloban City in Leyte, an island in Eastern Visayas, Philippines with the theme: “Women Fishers in a Changing Global Seascape and Landscape. 123 participants (111 females and 12 males) from all over the Philippines attended the conference. ...

Danika Kleiber and her co-authors have made a welcome contribution to the information on total fisheries harvest and the often un-recorded harvests of women and men, especially by reef gleaning. Working with local communities who live and work on the reefs on Danajon Bank, Bohol Province Central Philippines, and 4 Cebuano-speaking research assistants (see photo), they have estimated total catches and participation in all types of fishing including reef gleaning, an important local activity. ...

The use of photos and comments by research participants to tell their own stories—known as photovoice—is a fast, cost-effective and high-impact research method, making it a valuable tool for gender researchers in fisheries and aquaculture. Photovoice is the focus of a special workshop at ‘Expanding the Horizons’, the 7th Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries conference in Bangkok on 18-22 October 2018. ...

WorldFish Center and IFAD have released a guide to ex-ante impact evaluation in aquaculture and fisheries. The guide gives good attention to collecting gender disaggregated information. The guide is: Crissman, C.C., Abernethy, K., Delaporte, A., Timmers, B. (2013) A Practical Guide for Ex-ante Impact Evaluation in Fisheries and Aquaculture. CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. Penang, Malaysia. Guidelines: AAS-2013-04. ...

A bold new Nigerian initiative to support Nigerian rural women and women academics has launched, led by Dr Stella Williams, well know to many of the Genderaquafish.com followers. The Nigerian Women in Agricultural Research for Development (NIWARD) initiative will be hosted at the Centre for Gender Issues in Science and Technology (CEGIST) of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA). Professor Williams is the National President. ...

The recent North Atlantic Seafood Forum, held in Norway, drew protests from atteendees at the paucity of visible women on the agenda (4 of 64 speakers, one of whom was Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, the Norwegian fisheries Minister – pic). The story, “the gender issue” from SeafoodSource.com is well worth reading. ...

Christine Okali’s latest blog challenges policy makers to scrap the handy (and often unsupported) narratives on women/gender and climate change. Here is some of what she said – but do read the whole blog! “It is time to re-socialise gender policies. For real progress to be made towards gender equity and transforming gender relations across a range of institutions, policies must build on a more realistic understanding of the lives of women and men and their complex and changing relationships. ...

After three decades of seaweed farming in India, women in the farming front have emerged as a major force to reckon with. The dialogues have brought out the quest for cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills in women which provide ample opportunities for honing and harnessing of the same. Though women have contributed immeasurably on the production sector, there exists a void in the research and development efforts, post-harvest technologies and value addition wherein a lot lies untapped. After three decades of seaweed farming in India, women in the farming front have emerged as a major fo ...

Capacity building for women to help them adapt to change. Training Basic Sea Survival skills such as swimming, as farming might evolve from intertidal to deeper waters. Blue economy policy/ coastal mariculture policy and a seaweed sector development strategy needed; participatory approach needed to include views of all stakeholders and protection of the interest of vulnerable groups are protected to guide the development of the sector. Political goodwill was brought out as a critical factor in the development of any policy. ...

A new Norad report by Cecile Brugere and Bodil Maal has delved into gender roles in the fisheries and aquaculture value chains in Mozambique, finding that women play a large role in the fisheries value chain, but their social organization is not strong. Women dominate aquaculture production but the aquaculture value chain is still only weak, with most fish sold at the pond-side. The authors identified a number of potential entry points for women in the value chains. ...

I recently received a Postdoctoral Fellowship award from the International Veterinary Vaccinology Network (IVVN), United Kingdom. The aim of this fellowship is to support the career development of female scientists involved in the field of veterinary vaccines. Women’s power in science is crucial for today’s society. Being a representative of “women in science” from India, I must convey that career development and promotion for Indian women are important issues. ...

The 13th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum (13AFAF) was a watershed for how gender was included in Asian Fisheries Society’s triennial Forums. 13AFAF was hosted by National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, and conducted virtually from 31 May to 2 June 2022. The first AFS Forum was held in 1986. Women in fisheries (later gender in fisheries and aquaculture) did not enter the AFS forums until the 4th Asian Fisheries Forum in Beijing in 1995, when a women in fisheries photographic competition was held (milestones). Prior to this, AFS had been associated with two other gender events, ...

The Philippines is one of Southeast Asia’s many diverse cultural regions, and together with other Asian nations is in an area that has gone through tremendous changes, economic, social and environmental. Changes which have occurred through not only local policy but from colonial times, through to the present concept of globalism[1]. The poorest members of society live in agricultural areas and work as farmers or fishers or in urban cities work in the informal sector. ...

On 1 August, at the 13th World Women’s Congress, held in Florianopolis, Brazil, Maria do Rosário de Fátima Andrade Leitão and Maria Helena Santana Cruz coordinated the Gender and Fisheries Thematic Symposium. Researchers at the Symposium presented studies about Brazilian women in fishery activities ...

A new report, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture for Food Security and Nutrition, has provided probably “the most comprehensive recent attempt to review and synthesize the current knowledge” said Dr Christophe Béné. Dr Béné, of the Institute of Development Studies, chaired the team of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security that produced the report. ...

In her 2011 paper, Nilanjana Biswas, an independent researcher from India, argued that research on women and fisheries had shifted, over the decades, from a ‘political economy’ approach to a ‘political ecology’ approach. Along with this, fisheries development assistance and general development assistance has shifted to align efforts with those of countries to become more industry (capital) friendly. She challenges the development assistance community to look beyond the framework of capital. ...

Naila Kabeer and Luisa Natali recently published a review for the Institute of Development Studies into the two-way relationships between gender equality and economic growth, across sectors and countries. They reviewed studies of labour market participation in different sectors and services, earnings and well-being and rights. Their conclusion is that the relationship between gender equality and economic growth is asymmetric, with gender equality tending to improve economic growth but economic growth not leading to gender equality without concerted efforts on inclusive growth. ...

In the FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihood Program for South and Southeast Asia, the August Newsletter (download newsletter) contains several stories that highlight support for fishing community development, with strong participation by women. Gender (p. 6): Mainstreaming gender in fisheries in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam ...