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World Development Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 875–899, 2008 Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved 0305-750X/$ - see front matter www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2007.05.010 Women and Fish-for-Sex: Transactional Sex, HIV/AIDS and Gender in African Fisheries CHRISTOPHE BE´ NE´ WorldFish Center, Africa Regional Office, Cairo, Egypt and SONJA MERTEN * University of Basel, Switzerland Summary. — This paper analyzes the phenomenon of fish-for-sex in small-scale fisheries and dis- cusses its apparent links to HIV/AIDS and transactional sex practices. The research reveals that fish-for-sex is not an anecdotal phenomenon but a practice increasingly reported in many different developing countries, with the largest number of cases observed in Sub-Saharan African inland fish- eries. An overview of the main narratives that attempt to explain the occurrence of FFS practices is presented, along with other discourses and preconceptions, and their limits discussed. The analysis outlines the many different and complex dimensions of fish-for-sex transactions. The paper con- cludes with a set of recommendations. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Key words — artisanal fisheries, vulnerability, poverty, public health, Africa ‘‘Some elderly women go to the sea shore to buy fish di- traders and fishermen, in which the fish traders rectly from the fishermen. On the days when they have engage in sexual relationships with the male no money one has to offer sex to the fishermen in order fishers to secure their supply of fish, which they to get fish to feed the grandchildren’’ Older woman, 1 then process and sell to support their families. Kibaha district, Tanzania In a large number of fishing communities where these fish-for-sex practices occur, and more widely in the surrounding societies, this 1. INTRODUCTION Small-scale fisheries and related activities * Eddie Allison provided useful comments on an earlier such as fish processing and trading have long version of this article. The paper also benefited from been recognized to provide a safety net for comments from Catrin Egerton, Tobias Haller and three the ‘‘poorest of the poor’’ in rural communities anonymous referees from this journal. Sonja Merten’s in developing countries (Jul-Larsen, Kolding, field work has been supported by the Swiss National Overa˚, Nielsen, & van Zwieten, 2003; Neiland Research Foundation and the Ka¨the-Zingg-Schwichten- &Be´ne´, 2004; Panayotou, 1985). Recently, berg fund and Chris Be´ne´ by the WorldFish Center. Part however, an increasing number of docu- of this work was presented at the workshop ‘‘Respond- ments—essentially, but not exclusively, from ing to HIV and AIDS in the Fishery Sector in Africa,’’ non-governmental organizations—have been Lusaka Zambia February 21–22, 2006 co-funded by the drawing attention to a ‘‘new’’ phenomenon: WorldFish Center, the Swedish International Develop- the occurrence within these small-scale fishing ment Agency (SIDA), the International Organization for communities of what has been termed Migration (IOM) and the DFID-FAO Sustainable Fis- ‘‘fish-for-sex’’ transactions. The term refers to heries Livelihood Programme. Final revision accepted: particular ‘‘arrangements’’ between female fish May 22, 2007. 875 876 WORLD DEVELOPMENT type of transactional sex is frequently com- possible, however. In particular, analytical pared to prostitution. The stigmatization can frameworks focusing on vulnerability would therefore be considerable for the women, often also be potentially enlightening. leading to social exclusion. At the same time, The rest of the paper is articulated as follows: however, fish-for-sex is also generally perceived first, the phenomenon of FFS is presented and or presented as the consequence of individual illustrated through a concrete example from a economic impoverishment: if these female fish fishery in the Kafue flats in Zambia. The results traders—often widowed, divorced, or single— of a global review on FFS are then presented engage in such activities it is because they lack and preliminary interpretations put forward the cash necessary to purchase the fish from the to explain some of the most prominent trends fishers and are therefore ‘forced’ to offer sex to revealed by this review. The next section dis- secure their access to the product. The litera- cusses FFS in light of the literature on gender ture also makes explicit the direct link that ex- and HIV/AIDS in fisheries. The analysis will ists between these practices and the spread of reveal the close links which exist between FFS HIV/AIDS (e.g., AFARD, 2004; BDS, 2005; and HIV/AIDS issues but also stress the risk Seemungal, 2003) as most of these fish-for-sex that the gender-bias present in fisheries sciences transactions involve unprotected sex, putting is reproduced in HIV/AIDS literature and FFS both parties—the fisher and the fish trader— analysis. In the next section, the main conclu- at risk. sions of the literature on transactional sex are Despite the direct and multiple links with is- revisited in light of our focus on FFS. The re- sues of public health, HIV/AIDS, and social view demonstrates in particular how the eco- exclusion, this fish-for-sex (FFS) phenomenon nomic impoverishment discourse, which is has so far hardly been considered in the rele- often put forward to explain FFS transaction vant literature. To the best of our knowledge, is in fact too simplistic to capture the complex- no scientific article has been published on this ity of the FFS phenomenon. It will also raise specific issue in the social, health, or develop- questions about the comparison which is often ment literature. The objective of this paper is made between FFS and prostitution and cast a to correct this omission by offering a first anal- new light onto this fish trader/sex worker amal- ysis of the phenomenon of FFS in small-scale gam. These different points are then illustrated fisheries in developing countries. To start with, through the re-analysis of the field data of the we wish to investigate the real magnitude of Kafue flats which underlines how critical it is this phenomenon; is this a marginal activity to account for socio-cultural dimensions in which involves a few women in specific fishing the analysis of the FFS phenomenon. The last communities, or is it a practice which is ob- section of the paper draws on these different served more widely in a large number of arti- points to propose a series of preliminary direc- sanal fisheries? Second, we want to better tions for policy recommendations on FFS. understand who these women are—do they share some general common ‘profile’—are they victims or agents of this phenomenon and, in 2. METHODOLOGY relation to this, to what extent FFS is similar, or diverges, from more ‘conventional’ transac- Firstly, a global review of the literature was tional sex? Thirdly, and perhaps more funda- conducted to identify the various documents mentally, is it possible, based on the existing and media that report the occurrence of FFS information, to identify some of the social, cul- transactions in fisheries across the world. tural, or economic factors or mechanisms that Key-words used for this global research in- lead women to engage in transactional fish- cluded ‘‘fish-for-sex,’’ ‘‘sex-for-fish,’’ ‘‘transac- for-sex trade? To answer these questions and tional sex + fish,’’ ‘‘sex + fish exchange,’’ and to provide a general overview of the phenome- their equivalents in French, Spanish, and Por- non of FFS transactions, we will use an analyt- tuguese. An initial set of 46 documents was ical framework that encompasses what appear identified. In order to reduce the risk of multi- to be the three main entry points directly rele- ple counting and/or ‘‘factoidization’’ 2 of the vant to the phenomenon of fish-for-sex, namely information (Barnett & Prins, 2005), the exact the emerging recognition of HIV/AIDS in fish- location (village, municipality, or district) eries communities; the issue of gender in fisher- where FFS transactions are reported, the nat- ies; and the well-established knowledge on ure of the evidence, and the source of the doc- transactional sex. Other frameworks are ument were systematically recorded. From this WOMEN AND FISH-FOR-SEX 877 screening process, 12 documents that mention and the 26 female traders were further inter- FFS were discarded for the lack of credibility viewed about fish-for-sex deals by local field- of their data or clear evidence of ‘‘recycling’’ workers, who, to ensure confidentiality, came from other previous documents. The remaining from a different area. In addition, seven local 34 records were kept for the analysis. These are female fish traders from the woodlands, who detailed in Appendix 1. were willing to reveal their fish-for-sex activi- Secondly, an in-depth analysis was conducted ties, were interviewed in depth. on the literature on HIV/AIDS and gender in fisheries, and on transactional sex (TS). The review on HIV/AIDS in fisheries included the 3. FISH-FOR-SEX: EMPIRICAL comprehensive research by Allison and Seeley EVIDENCE THROUGH A CASE STUDY (Allison & Seeley, 2004a, 2004b; Kissling et al., 2005; Seeley & Allison, 2005) and the The Kafue case study is first used to illustrate works conducted under the Sustainable Fisher- the issue of FFS. On the Kafue River and asso- ies Livelihood Programme in West Africa (e.g., ciated floodplains and lagoons (permanent SFLP, 2004), as well as previous articles pub- large water-bodies), commercial fishing is done lished in the late 1990s (e.g., Pickering, Okon- mainly by local Batwa people 4 and immigrant go, Bwanika, Nnalusiba, & Withworth, 1997). fishers coming from other regions of the coun- As for the literature on gender in developing try. In these communities, women are not ac- countries’ small-scale fisheries, we essentially tively involved in fishing, but instead in the referred to the series of articles published in processing (drying) of fish and in trade.

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