The 12th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum (12IFAF) was held in Chennai from 5 to 7 May 2022. We are pleased to report on two events with special relevance to gender in aquaculture and fisheries. The first is an award to a gender stalwart, Dr B. Shanthi, and the second is a report by Dr Nikita Gopal of the Special Session on Gender in Fisheries held at 12IFAF.

The 13th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum (13AFAF) was a watershed for how gender was included in Asian Fisheries Society’s triennial Forums. Gender topics were in the Plenary, as a topic session and in the Forum’s graphic elements. The gender theme has come a long way in Asian Fisheries Society and can still go much further. Three messages to take home: why and how research is practices is critical to gender; need to focus more on women’s agency rather than their victimhood and marginality; and gender relations are dynamic under changes in resources and even new technologies.

Read the latest E-Newsletter of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section (GAFS) of the Asian Fisheries Society, our second COVID-19 era edition. The E-Newsletter Editor, Surendran Rajaratnam pointed out, “COVID-19 continues to disrupt our lives and livelihoods, we have learned to endure and continue to live with the disease and the uncertainties it brings. Although the pandemic has exposed political, health, economic and social vulnerabilities of many countries, the show of resilience and global cooperation to weather the virus is applaudable.”