France: a resolute mussel farmer

Amélie Dennebouy has challenged gender stereotypes to become a successful mussel entrepreneur in Pénestin, France. “ We don’t employ women!” Just how many times Amélie Dennebouy, a mussel farm worker, heard that phrase since she began working in the sector at age 17, it would be impossible to say. “Ten years ago, I realised that it would be difficult to find employment in the production segment because I am a woman,” says Amélie. Stories flood her mind: managers laughing at her when she handed in an application for work as a production worker, pushing her to the sales department instead; the crude questioning of some: “Have you passed under the desk?

Gender: A platform for women

Women in fisheries can utilize the SSF Guidelines to advance their interests, even as they relate to one another and build up solidarity and a common vision. In India, in 2016, the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) had organized a large national workshop to discuss the provisions of the SSF Guidelines with women in fisheries from various states (provinces). A follow-up workshop was organized in August 2019, this time focusing on states where women are better organized, in order to help them take the discussion towards concrete action. This was also in the backdrop of the National Policy on Marine Fisheries (NPMF), which was notified in late 2017 by the Government of India. It was deemed necessary to understand whether or not there was convergence of this national policy with the provisions of the SSF Guidelines

Southeast Asia: Fewer fish, ageing fishers

Declining incomes and ageing villages mean that women are likely to be the mainstay of families and communities in the small-scale fisheries in Southeast Asia. In the last few decades, attention on and analysis of women in fisheries and aquaculture have changed tremendously, especially in Southeast Asia. In the 1990s, just talking about women’s role in fisheries was considered to be new. Later on, women in the fisheries network emerged with the leadership of the Mekong River Commission, and Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries symposiums started to be organized. However, the discussion was mainly around gender division of labour

Stock Assessment of Arius maculatus (Thurnberg, 1792) (Ariidae, Siluriformes) in Panguil Bay, Northwestern Mindanao

Arius maculatus, commonly known as spotted catfish and locally known as Tambangongo, has a great potential as an aquaculture species, but there is very limited information known for the stocks in Panguil Bay. This study aimed to assess the wild stocks of A. maculatus, and make an inventory of the fishing boat and gears in two stations in Panguil Bay, namely: Tangub, Misamis Occidental and Baroy, Lanao del Norte. Length frequencies were analyzed to provide estimates of growth, mortality, exploitation ratio, and recruitment pulse of A. maculatus in the bay. A total of 589 boats (324 motorized boats and 265 non-motorized boats) were recorded from the sites. There were 473 units of 15 types of fishing gear used in the sites and 6 types of these were only used in catching A. maculatus. A total of 3,259 specimens were collected for 12 months from the sites. The aquatic habitat of A. maculatus from the two sites was characterized by a pH range of 7.9-8.1, temperature of 28.5-29.1°C, salinity of 13.31-15.9 ppt, dissolved oxygen levels of 4.0-5.41 ppm, and total suspended solid values of 0.1-0.6 g/L. Reproductive biology analysis indicates that eggs start to mature from October to December, then spawning starts from January to March, and the fish fry recruitment starts in April and May. A. maculatus can grow up to 98.95 cm with an asymptotic length of 98.86 cm (K value = 0.35) equivalent to asymptotic weigth of 8,750 g. Mortality Z = 0.99, with natural mortality M = 0.67 and fishing mortality F = 0.33. This study revealed that A. maculatus in Panguil Bay is not over-exploited since the exploitation rate (E = 0.33) is minimal and large individuals can still be collected from the field

Pacific Islands: 30 by 30

Renewed calls for marine conservation must not bulldoze the democratic route that has allowed small island nations to improve fisheries and incomes without damaging the marine ecology. I wanted to share some concerns regarding the danger that threatens to disrupt the management of the Pacific Islands’ signature fisheries and main independent source of income. There have been renewed calls for 30 per cent marine protected areas (MPAs) that sound suspiciously over-simplistic. Community-conserved areas come at many scales and the Pacific Islands’ chances of ensuring a multinational indigenous conserved area are threatened

Brazil: reaching out, holding hands

The President of the Association of Indigenous Communities of the Middle Negro River (ACIMRN), Sandra Gomes, speaks about the challenges indigenous communities face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Negro River in the Amazon region is the largest black water river in the world. Its basin area of approximately 750,000 sq. km accounts for seven percent of the total area of the Amazon basin, and its length from pre-Andean Colombia to its mouth, is approximately 1,700 km, making it the Amazon’s largest tributary

Sri Lanka: Action stations

Sri Lanka’s National Fisheries Policy needs to be remodelled to incorporate the SSF Guidelines in order to attain the goal of securing sustainable small-scale fisheries. The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development (MFARD) of Sri Lanka recently prepared a White Paper on National Fisheries Policy in 2018, which was approved by the Cabinet and is expected to be presented to the parliament. It fails to address a number of compelling needs of the small-scale fisheries sector. The Sri Lanka Forum for Small-Scale Fisheries (SLFSSF) responded to this need; it embarked on a process to implement the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (the SSF Guidelines) between July 2018 and May 2019, with assistance from the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), as part of efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) towards global implementation of the SSF Guidelines. Following the FAO Project Results Matrix, the SLFSSF took up a number of activities

Japan: The way ahead

The exclusion of women from organizing bodies is a key challenge facing women in Japan’s coastal fisheries. In Japan, the Fishery Cooperative Associations (FCAs) are key entities in the effort to protect the environment in coastal fisheries. They manage traditional fishing rights with legal support from the government, and are embedded into a multi-layer management system – including Total Allowable Catch controls for some species, effort control by Total Allowable Effort, prefectural government licensing systems, and traditional rights based management. Women in Japanese coastal communities have been organized and connected to FCAs for many years

Estimation of Post-Harvest Losses of Fish Transported Using Ice-chilled Carrier Boats from High Seas Pocket 1

Access of Philippine traditional fresh/ice-chilled seining vessels to High Seas Pocket 1 (HSP-1) lessens fishing pressures in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone where juvenile oceanic tunas are more likely to be found. However, catch landed by carrier boats from HSP-1 were observed to be of reduced quality, thus eliciting lower market value. The present study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of icechilled carrier boats by generating data on the magnitude of post-harvest losses incurred in landed catch from HSP-1. Exploratory Fish Loss Assessment Method and Questionnaire Loss Assessment Method were used to estimate quality losses. Landed catch of ice-chilled carrier boats from HSP-1 recorded an estimated loss of 17.25%. Key players incurred an estimated financial loss amounting to PHP 223 million (USD 4.3 million). Low quality catch commonly sold as raw materials for canning, smoking, and fishmeal processing entail cheaper prices, thus regarded as losses. A positive correlation was established between fishing duration and losses. Results indicate that the current preservation technique in carrier boats could induce quality deterioration in fish given the long distances and transit times involved. Thus, the use of carrier boats with freezing system should be allowed in HSP-1 to sufficiently preserve the quality of the catch. This will reduce losses in post-harvest fisheries, thereby increasing the potential income of HSP-1 players

Brazil: Oil and uncertainty

Oil spill disasters in the ocean often devastate marine and coastal ecosystems, profoundly affecting fisheries resources and fishing communities. Urgent and early-warning actions are needed to avoid a tragedy in biomes and communities when such accidents occur. In late-July 2019, Brazilian fishers alerted the first oil slick reaching the coast of Paraíba, weeks before the recognition of the biggest-ever oil spill disaster ever recorded in Brazil, extending across the entire North-eastern coast of the country. Their early voices were not properly heeded but those signals escalated into a gigantic spread of petroleum slicks. Almost 1,000 different localities were affected, including beaches, mangroves, rivers and “protected” areas. All the nine states of the region, encompassing a 2,300-km long shoreline, switched on a red light