Report recommends integrating fish into food security and nutrition
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. ...
Research on women in fisheries: the era of political ecology
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. ...
Reviewing the Evidence for Links between Gender Equality and Economic Growth
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. ...
RFLP News: Gender mainstreaming, women’s activities
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 ...
RFLP Women in Fisheries awards announced
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. ...
RFLP: news on projects involving women
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. ...
Rocking the boat: resistance to marine conservation policies along lines of ethnicity, class and gender in the Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia
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. ...
Roles of women in the purchasing node of the value chain of tuna in Vietnam: Case study of Binh Dinh province
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, ...
Rural Women’s Empowerment
“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: Three Countries, Three Different Experiences
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. ...
Second Anniversary of Dr M.C. Nandeesha
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, ...
Second Executive Committee
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. ...
Securing women’s fishing rights: a look at 5 South American coastal communitie
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. ...
Social cohesion, masculinity, conservation and more discussed by MARE Gender Panel
“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. ...
Social development in seafood production
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. ...
Social relations and women’s roles in Malawi fish value chains
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 ...
Society And The Environment Benefit When Women Are Empowered
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 ...
SPC WIF Info Bulletin: coastal fisheries, women’s fishing, climate change and gender in development
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! ...
SPC Women in Fisheries Info Bull 2010 now out
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 ...
Still a long way to go
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.” ...