RFLP’s team in the Philippines won the ‘Women in Fisheries’ award for its short film entitled “From gambling to earning” featuring the efforts of the La Conception Women’s Association. The Women in Fisheries Award was contested by the six RFLP countries to recognize and encourage their efforts to mainstream gender in their activities. ...

The December 2011 RFLP Newsletter (FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme) features several articles on projects that reach out to women, such as vocational training, skills enhancement in processing, and a case study gender analysis for Negombo and Puttalam Districts in Sri Lanka. ...

It’s 6am and I wake up to the rhythmic sound of waves lapping on the mangrove beams supporting this stilt house. I have rented this home from a family who have temporarily migrated for work. I am in a community officially called Sama Bahari, known locally as Sampela. This community stands completely above the sea and is about one kilometer away from the nearest island here in the Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. ...

Vietnam has seen its economy undergo many drastic changes during the past 40 years, going from a centrally planned economy to a market-driven one. Since the transition to a market-driven economy, many studies on the economics of commodities have been conducted. Revenues of fishery products have been increasing these past few years in Vietnam. Tuna is the sea-commodity with the highest added value for export and its business provides an income to more and more Vietnamese (USD 653 million in 2018, ...

“In terms of who can do what, organisations at different levels each have roles to play. UN agencies and other macro-level organisations have a key role to play in changing the way in which women are portrayed, narratives about gender relations, and even more basic understandings about who does what (that has been made central to planning). This may be one of the biggest challenges given the way in which this information has been used to date to promote a feminist agenda. However, a shift is already evident in the 2010 FAO SOFA. ...

Seaweed farming has grown at much the same rapid rate as other forms of aquaculture in the last twenty years, but seaweeds are produced in far fewer countries than, for example, farmed fish. The Philippines and Tanzania are among the top 8 countries. India is not yet on the list but, on the Coromandel (southeast) Indian coast, the industry commenced in the early 2000s as a platform for women’s empowerment. ...

On 27 December 2012, we lost Dr M.C. Nandeesha, who brought awareness to the importance of women in Asian and global fisheries, and who initiated the first substantive activities to address gender inequality to the work and the considerations of the Asian Fisheries Society. Poster created in Bangaldesh under guidance of Dr Nandeesha Beginning with the 1990 Women in Fisheries in India Workshop, held at the 2nd Indian Fisheries Forum in Mangalore, ...

The GAF Section is governed by an elected Executive Committee of 9 members, plus the Past Chair and the Newsletter Editor. The officers of the Executive Committee will consist of the Chair, Past Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Election Committee Coordinator, Constitution Committee Coordinator and Membership Committee Coordinator, Newsletter Editor and two other elected members. ...

Rights1,2 and rights-based management (RBM) 3 have long been fundamental concepts examined in theory and practice in the search for sustainable and socially just fisheries management. However, few studies have engaged this discourse on the practical issue of women’s rights in fisheries. One exception is a study presented at the North American Association for Fisheries (NAFFE) conference in March 2017, by Jordan Williams and colleagues of the Environmental Defense Fund. ...

“The panel presentations (which you can download from the links on this website) were food for thought, covering aspects related to gender and fisheries/marine/coastal environment, and the improvements that need to be done in the value chain, particularly on markets, identifying possible negative consequences, and ways to empower women with special attention given to women’s own perceptions of their occupational activity and their sense of self-worth. ...

In early 2015, NACA (Network for Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific) was invited by Oxfam/SFP/UNDP to participate in the Seafood Industry and Social Development Conference to present the work we are doing on gender in aquaculture, and the results of the USAID/MARKET Gender project. The conference was aimed to promote and encourage further work towards social development in seafood production. ...

In our recent article titled “WOMEN’S ENGAGEMENT IN AND OUTCOMES FROM SMALL SCALE FISHERIES VALUE CHAINS IN MALAWI: EFFECTS OF SOCIAL RELATIONS” (Manyungwa et al, 2019) we used the social relations framework to analyse women’s participation and the outcomes of participation within small-scale fisheries. In studying Solomon Islands fisheries, Rohe et al (2018) posited that recent development in the gender discourse and feminist intersectional approaches have highlighted that social ...

Fish is a highly nutritious and prized commodity. Yet ironically, fish workers may get very little fish for themselves. Some fishing communities have less food security than the general population. Within these communities, women and infants are often more malnourished than men. Circumstances are similar in aquaculture. Agencies introducing aquaculture often assume that growers will benefit from more fish to eat. However, depending on the value of what’s grown, workers often cannot afford to eat what they produce. Innovative aquaculture projects are addressing this issue with nutrition educati ...

We welcome the latest edition of the Secretariat for the Pacific Community’s (SPC) 23rd Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin. The Editor, Veikila Vuki highlights that the contributions covers gender roles in coastal fisheries, women’s fishing activities in communities, climate change and gender issues in development. Read the latest issue online! ...

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community has just released its latest Women in Fisheries Information Bulleting (WIF21). Read the Bulletin at: http://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/Doc/FAME/InfoBull/WIF/21/WIF21.pdf Articles in this edition 1. Gender and seaweed farming on Wagina Island, Choiseul Province in Solomon Islands. By M. Kronen et al 2. The historical development of seaweed farming, including roles of men and women, and prospects for its future development in Fiji. by A. Lal and V. Vuki ...

The November 2014 edition of Samudra Report, the global periodical on fisheries issues published by the International in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), highlighted the 5th Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF5) in its article “Still a Long Way to Go.” ...

Women may be numerous on the factory floors of top seafood producers but, at the top of the companies, their numbers are small. Marie-Christine Monfort, a seafood industry insider herself, conducted a follow-up survey to track changes since she authored an earlier report for FAO (see our previous post). The recent study found that the number of women in senior leadership positions shifted little between 2014 and 2016. ...

Are you confused about what it means to talk about “equality” or “gender equality”? In this current socially enlightened age when equality and inclusion are commonly routine words in strategies, conventions, goals and other high-level pronouncements, everyone from graphic designers to legal scholars seems to be having a go at explaining what it means and how it can be implemented. See, for example, Craig Froehle’s 2016 blog discussing his equity/equality meme shown in Figure 1: (Evolution of an accidental meme), including versions that removed the fence, depicting liberation. ...

Report by Dr NIKITA GOPAL, Chair Program Committee Piyashi Debroy, winnder of GAF4 AquaFish-CRSP Best Student Paper Award The 4th Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF4) was successfully held during the 10th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum, Yeosu, Korea (April 30-May4, 2013). The GAF4 was held from May 1 to 3, 2013. In all the Program had 4 technical sessions where researchers ...

Women can collaborate, assert their rights and upgrade their capacity, if necessary with funding and support for education, advocacy and legal resources. Men’s and male-led organizations can become allies in enhancing women’s autonomy over their lives and livelihoods. Women are rarely organised to advocate for their rights. Collectively, women need to organize, collaborate and assert their rights along the catch-to-consumer pathway, challenging the status quo and claiming gender equality, changing laws when necessary. ...