Yemaya, No. 10, August 2002

Item Type monograph

Publisher International Collective in Support of Fishworkers

Download date 30/09/2021 12:44:20

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/33434 Yemaya

NO. 10 ICSF’S N EWSLETTER ON GENDER AND F ISHERIES AUGUST 2002

From the Editor

Dear Friends, in management plans and other policies, as much for reasons of equity as for Greetings! In this issue, besides articles sustainablity of resources and from Tanzania, Brazil, Mozambique, livelihoods. Guinea Conakry, and Malaysia, we carry excerpts from a recently Women of fishing communities have released report on the role of women been in the news in several countries, in European . as they take up various initiatives to improve their life and livelihood.We The article from Tanzania analyzes the have fished out two such news items experiences of two fisheries from India and Spain. development projects and stresses that integrating the concerns of women of And finally, as Yemaya goes into its fishing communities right from the very tenth issue, we take a look at its conception of the project has been an readership. At present Yemaya English important reason for the success of goes to 134 individuals and one of them. “Involvement in planning organizations in 78 countries, Yemaya does not mean that all women French to 57 individuals and participate. But it gives them a chance organizations in 20 countries and to come up with their priorities and Yemaya Spanish to 74 individuals and strategies at an early stage”, notes the organizations in 20 countries. Most author. An important lesson, often copies go to fishworker organizations, ignored. NGOs and women of fishing communities, especially in India, Brazil, In several countries, both in the North Philippines, Senegal, Chile, Spain, and South, women play vital and France and Canada. unacknowledged roles in managing on- Inside Pages shore work of the fisheries enterprise, The challenge for Yemaya is to continue including maintaining accounts, Tanzania...... 2 to attract write-ups, especially from liaisoning with bank and port officials Guinea ...... 3 grassroots groups in the South. Linking etc. The report on women in European up with other newsletters in local fisheries highlights the important and Mozambique.....4 languages being circulated among undervalued role of women as support Brazil...... 5 fishing communities, is also an option to seagoing spouses (“collaborating Malaysia...... 7 that needs be explored. In case you spouses”), and recommends the need EU...... 7 have any suggestions, please write to to recognize and support this work. Etymology...... 9 us. It is evident that even if women are News...... 10 The next issue of Yemaya will be not visibly playing a role in fisheries Film...... 11 brought out in November 2002. Can activities, it is important to ensure that Net resources..12 we request you to send us your write- their work and priorities are reflected ups by end-October? YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 Africa/ Tanzania I know. At Mafia women are now engaged in , factory work and shell collection. In this way Women are Capable they have shown that it is possible to find alternatives Participation of women in the planning stages of to the dynamite fishing that male fishers had been projects along the coastal region of engaged in, almost ruining stocks in the process. Tanzania, has led to the success of these projects The government and communities have worked This piece, by Catherine Chando, is based on her together to counter the practice of dynamiting and to Master’s thesis titled Gender Roles in Fishery safeguard biodiversity. Planning and Projects: A case study of coastal region in Tanzania completed in 2002

As a civil servant working in the fisheries bureaucracy and as a Master’s student in fisheries management, I have often wondered why women’s position in fisheries seems to be so important within the household economy and so marginal in fisheries politics. Their contributions to industry output are poorly registered and recognized. Women have been identified as producers, assistants to fishermen, processors—predominantly involved in post-harvest activities—traders, and prominent actors in activities that are not directly related to fisheries but are essential for family and community welfare. However, the focus on the work of men very often overshadows the economic role of women in fishing communities. This leads to a relative neglect of their needs and interests. Fisheries policies and programmes have, as a consequence, focused mainly on the needs The big difference here was women’s involvement in and interests of men, ignoring the fact that women are the planning process. From the very beginning the engaged in fisheries. ideology and the structure of the project included women. They were included at the national level when Interested as I am in gender aspects of fisheries, I planning for the Park was initiated. When the plans for wanted to take a closer look at women’s participation the Park were elaborated, they were members of the in project planning. I consider such participation as an staff and were represented in committees and boards. important aspect of women’s empowerment. In addition, there were also positions in the village that Participation in the planning process gives women an favoured women, for example, development officers opportunity to influence aims and strategies and to and gender officer. Women were also called upon as discuss different alternatives given their situation. community members to participate in the planning meetings initiated in each village. This article focuses on the roles played by women in the planning of fisheries projects in the coastal region Involvement in planning does not mean that all women of Tanzania, more specifically in the districts of participate. But it gives them a chance to come up Bagamoyo and Mafia. with their priorities and strategies at an early stage. If they want to, they can use this opportunity in their I visited some fisheries projects in the Bagamoyo area favour. This means that women’s inclusion from the and in Mafia Island. In the Bagamoyo projects, both very beginning of a project is of great importance. women and men were not involved in the planning process; the projects were initiated and planned from The example from Mafia shows that, through a project, outside—by the staff of the fisheries department, the women in fishing communities can play an important community development officer, or by a seaweed role in sustainable management of resources. The farming company—so I will leave out this example. projects at Mafia managed to mobilize women; they were leaders of the groups and they were active The project in Mafia Island Marine Park (MIMP) participants. The success in stopping the practice of represents, in many ways, a contrast to many projects dynamiting could also be due to women’s involvement 2 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 in meetings planning for the establishment of the park— The fact that women are able to plan their own projects, one could say that discussion /planning started at the therefore, seems to be an important factor that household level. This was a positive outcome in the empowers women. The best results were seen in Mafia villages of Jibondo and Juani in Mafia. where women were brought into planning positions. Women held job positions aimed at assisting women to A closer observation of women’s participation shows progress. The organizational structure of the Mafia that women were more active and easier to mobilize in Island Marine Park (MIMP), for example, created the projects compared to the men, and that a majority chances for women to be present at all phases of of the groups comprised women. planning and implementation. The position of the gender I also observed that: officer at the park created a greater awareness, and men in the island were able to accept the mobility of · Women were participating in income generating their wives beyond their households, in a context where, activities outside fisheries and were contributing given the prevailing Arabic culture, women tend to be to their family incomes from the profits coming confined to the household. out of their group activities. · Women, and some men, acquired and developed My experience from Mafia area is that if women are skills, particularly in conservation, by practicing more involved in planning and leadership, problems of seaweed farming. both women and men of many fishing communities can · Women from villages in the two districts studied, be solved. exerted some influence on women’s groups in neighbouring villages directly benefited by these Catherine can be contacted at catherinechando@ projects. hotmail.com · The women, having gained a better socio-economic status, found it easier to share their own experiences and learnings with the rest of the Africa/ Guinea Conakry women and men. They thus motivated others, particularly men, to participate in group activities. Fair dreams Women from Guinea Conakry benefited in many Lesson learned and recommendations ways from the West African Fair for Artisanally When women participated from day one in formulating Processed Fish organized in June 2001 in Dakar, the aims of the project—including, for example, Senegal increasing women’s incomes, enabling them to make a better living, especially for their households—they By Mamayawa Sandouno of the NGO, ADEPEG managed to create a female orientation already in the The women fish smokers of COFUB (The Co- planning phase. This female orientation seems to have operative of Women Fish Smokers of Boufi) impacted on the implementation and the activities represented the Guinean women fish processors at the carried out under the project, which in some cases also fair in Dakar. This was for them an opportunity for resulted in social change. exchanging technologies and business experiences. My findings also showed that there were an interrelation between participation in the planning process and level The women learnt about different kinds of wood that of education. At Mafia many women had can be used during smoking to give different shades to processed fish. There were exchanges of fermented comparatively higher levels of education. fish and other techniques between The Mafia projects gave women experience in project women from Guinea and Senegal. Guineans also came planning, decision-making and in collaborating with to know that the Mauritanians produced packed dried external partners. In this way they have obtained fish to supply their supermarkets. Encouraged by this knowledge and skills that might not only give them better experience, Guinean women are currently economic living conditions, but also enable them to take experimenting with sliced, smoked fillets, which may care of their fisheries resources in a better way. They be of interest to some markets in Conakry. So far 400 have also developed skills that can enable them to kg have been prepared in this manner, on an initiate new projects and take control over their own experimental basis. The first buyer showed great lives. interest.

3 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 It was not only a fish fair—it was also a fair for several Africa/ Mozambique other agrarian products. As well as fish, the Guinean women were engaged in selling red (palm) oil, ginger, Where they cannot go small chilli peppers and root crops (cassava etc). There Women in the fisheries of Mozambique feel left were several transactions going on. For example, the behind, both by their men and their government, as women from Guinea Bissau and Guinea Conakry traded fish resources continue to evade their present products like palm oil and ginger. Many transactions catching capacity went unnoticed because they took place outside the By KG Kumar fair grounds, in the rooms where the women were staying. The East African nation of Mozambique, which lies between Tanzania and South Africa, boasts a 2,770- km coastline along the Indian Ocean and an Exclusive Economic Zone of 493,700 sq km. The FAO estimates the country’s coastal area to be 738, 030 sq km. Of the 110 districts in the country, 42 are coastal, covering 23 per cent of the total surface area.

Given these conditions, it is but natural that the fisheries sector plays an important role in Mozambique’s economy. It contributes to three per cent of GDP and has lately been accounting for nearly half the country’s total foreign exchange earnings. About 85 per cent of Mozambique’s exports by value (mainly to the European Union, Japan and South Africa) come from industrial, shallow-water shrimp fisheries.

It is significant that the contacts made at the fair Mozambique is one of the world’s poorest countries, between women from different countries, are proving with 70 per cent of the 16 million population living below very helpful. Women from Senegal and Guinea the poverty line, mostly (80 per cent) in rural areas. Conakry, for example, now stay in each others houses About half the total protein intake of the population is when they come to trade, not in hotels. estimated to come from fish.

After the fair there was an exchange of letters between The FAO estimates that much of the country’s marine the women of COFUB and the regional support unit of resources remain underexploited, and that Mozambique the Sustainable Fisheries Livelihood Programme uses only about 25 per cent of its exploitable fish (SFLP) in Cotonou, through Mamauding Kouyoté, the resources. Marine fisheries provide for more than 90 expert responsible for fisheries development. The per cent of the jobs in the sector. About 90,000 people proposal is to support exchange programmes between are involved directly in fishing, processing and the women of COFUB and those of the CNPS of marketing. In 1999, there were about 74,000 fishers Senegal (Mbour) by sending two women from Boufi practising marine artisanal fisheries, using 11,000 – to work on smoking methods. This is a demand from 12,000 vessels, mostly operating from about 700 fishing women’s groups of both countries. centres. In addition, there are about 19,000 fishworkers who collect fish along the shoreline. The women appreciated the approach of ICSF with regard to regional integration. They are keen to take But where are the women in Mozambican fisheries? forward this initiative and to organize another fair, which While many women work in agriculture, there are cases would allow them to discuss common and specific of women involved in fishing for food, and in some problems, enabling them to be better prepared. They cases, for sale, as in the community of Mitubane in are keen on a sub-regional network of processors and Angoche district of Nampula province. The women traders. Now, what possible strategy is there to make who do fish, use low-cost fine-meshed nets (called this dream of the women come true? kinias) in estuarine areas and inshore waters, mainly Mamayawa can be contacted at [email protected] to catch fish for home consumption.

4 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 In some areas they are also involved in post-harvest In this context, Maria was especially happy to have activities, like drying, salting and smoking small pelagics. had the chance to attend ICSF’s General Body meeting Male traders sometimes hire women to process the which, she said, opened the eyes of both the men and catch. There are also a few women who trade in women participants from the fishing village of Costa processed fish. However, lack of capital and do Sol to what is happening in other regions of the transportation facilities is a major constraint. world.

These problems became more than evident in a brief interaction with some of the women from the Maputo Latin America/ Brazil region who had come to participate at ICSF’s General Body Meeting at Maputo in early June. One of them, Changing women’s lives Maria Fernando Dgambo from Costa do Sol, said that while she does go out to fish using nets, her activity is Income women earn from processing crabmeat is not socially approved, and so she has often thought of leading to socioeconomic and cultural changes in giving it up. Maria says that she and other women sell some parts of the state of Para in Brazil the men’s catch as fresh fish, and they are not much By Denise Machado Cardoso, an anthropologist involved in post-harvest processing. Though she does and teaching assistant at the Department of want to continue fishing, lack of money is the single Anthropology of the Federal University of Pará, most important constraint. Maria says she does not Brazil. know where to get credit to fund her small-scale fishing or which agency to approach. Though the men have Women’s work in fishing communities is little participated in meetings with government organizations, recognized or acknowledged, especially when it involves little has been done in practical terms to address the processing shellfish. This can be explained by many problem of credit. factors, one of them being the division of labour in these communities. Whereas women are shore-bound to Contrast Maria’s experience with that of 24-year old ‘drudgery’ work, men engage in the more prestigious Leenos, a hook-and-line fisherman from the same sea-faring activities. For example, net repair and region, whose father has given up fishing. Leenos was maintenance as well as the preparation and salting of able to raise a loan to fish to earn a livelihood to sustain fish are frequently relegated to a `non-work’ status. his family. But even he finds his earnings insufficient Thus, women’s involvement in productive activities is to plough back into investments for new material or considered of little consequence. gear. In spite of its significance, the work of women Lack of credit means that women like Maria, most of processors in Guarajubal is not recognized by their whom are mothers with children, are hampered by the companions or by the women themselves. Apart from size of their fishing vessels. Maria says her rowboat is the reasons mentioned above, women themselves do so small that she cannot reach the deeper waters where not want to upset the existing social order in their marine resources now appear to be available. community. has decimated stocks in her traditional fishing grounds, she says, and “the fish now appear where we cannot Women processors will not openly admit to the go”. significance of their work because to do so would be Another apparent area of discrimination for the women tantamount to claiming that their companions are unable is in the matter of unionization or organizing under the to sustain their roles as providers. Within the domestic banner of a common trade union. Most of the fishermen sphere, one notices that women play a significant role are members of different regional fishermen’s in decision-making, but upon further investigation one associations, though these are not affiliated to any finds that women tend to accede more power to the national federation or union. But the women say they men in their family. are not members—whether this is due to outright gender discrimination or a mere (but unforgivable) oversight, Residents of Guarajubal, like in other fishing is not clear. But the women clearly feel the need for communities, are not strictly limited to fishing as they some form of association to fight for their causes. “We also farm and hunt to sustain themselves. Situated in feel left behind,” says Maria. the coastal region of Pará state in Northeastern Brazil,

5 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 Guarajubal forms part of the municipality of Marapanim. To become a shellfish processor in this region requires Marapanim, on the Atlantic coast, is crisscrossed by patience. The amount of crabmeat processed daily many rivers and streams, and is home to extensive depends on the amount of time invested in this activity mangrove areas. Fish, shrimp, and other species and can take up to six hours to shell 120 crabs yielding of crustaceans and molluscs have been harvested in about 2 kg of crabmeat. In addition to taking care of this region for a long time although harvesting crabs their young children, shellfish processors have to display has become an important activity in the last decade. great perseverance in performing a repetitive task that can also cause injury as they often cut their fingers in The work of women shellfish processors starts after the process of separating crabmeat. the crabs are caught in nearby swamp areas and ends with packaging the crabmeat in plastic wrappers. Although women do face some risks and adverse collection and processing started approximately 10 conditions in their work, there are hardly any other years ago in Marapanim and, since then, this type of alternatives for paid work in this region. Despite these work has led to sociocultural changes in the many towns problems, therefore, women recognize the positive that comprise this municipal district. changes that the processing activity has brought about, both to their lives and that of their families. These Shellfish processors are predominantly healthy, adult changes are evident from a socioeconomic as well as married women, with children, since some income can a cultural perspective. The socioeconomic status of be earned from this activity without necessarily working women has improved and, at the same time, travelling too far from the domestic space. Concern women now enjoy more decision-making powers within over reconciling remunerative work as collectors and the family as well. processors with the non-remunerative activities of housework (childcare, cooking, garden cultivation, livestock raising, etc.) is encountered more among married women, as their single counterparts without children seek working opportunities elsewhere, in the municipal district headquarters or in other municipalities of northeastern Pará.

The work of women shellfish processors begins at daybreak, starting with household chores such as preparing food, washing clothes, childcare, sewing and maintenance of fishing equipment. After lunch, the women head off to begin their work, returning only by the evening. Men, who manually catch the crabs by reaching into their burrows and pulling them out, usually do the physical capture of the crabs. The task of removing the crabmeat from the shell is that of the women. This is stored for delivery to the middlemen, Nowadays, in Guarajubal, the decision as to how many locally known as a marreteiro, who usually monopolize children a couple will have, rests primarily on the this trade. woman. This change is a direct consequence of a married woman’s increased participation in the job Women may start off in this work accompanying their market and their greater purchasing power. Of course, relatives or neighbours, ostensibly to help them. Help other factors such as television have influenced may not be as much towards production as towards behaviour in Guarajubal. giving company to friends to render their work more pleasurable. Thus, ‘help’ in itself is more of a leisure The observation that women now have greater control strategy among women of Guarajubal than an effort to over the number of children they have is reinforced in reduce the overall workloads. Children also engage in other ways. When comparing the degree of domestic shellfish processing to help their mothers. It is more violence suffered by women in Marapanim’s commu- the girls who learn these skills, as the boys prefer to nities, we can observe that married women proces- engage in work considered more ‘masculine’. sors who have started earning an income are more 6 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 prone to resisting their companion’s aggression than in paying back loans especially when fish prices are women who do not engage in this activity. fluctuated or when weather conditions made it hazardous for small boats to venture out at sea, depriving The processing of crabmeat, known as massa de them of their source of livelihood. PIFWA has promised carangueijo, has thus stimulated many changes in the to look into their problems. lives of people in northeastern Pará. Until recently, women had few prospects for gaining access to paid In the meantime, PIFWA is also seeking partnerships labour. They are now able to reconcile earning an among local and international organizations for projects income with other activities normally attributed to for women in the fishing community. PIFWA women, such as being mothers and companions. welcomes suggestions and recommendations.

People engaged in harvesting and processing crabs are P Balan can be contacted at [email protected] aware that increasing production can eventually compromise the sustainability of this species. Public policy, so far blind to this issue, could eventually see European Union the implementation of a ‘closed season’ for harvesting crabs. Collaborating Spouses The Executive Summary of a Report on ‘The role Denise can be contacted at [email protected] of women in the fisheries sector’, prepared for the European Commission, Directorate General for Fisheries, by Macalister Elliott and Partners Ltd Asia/ Malaysia in March 2002

A step forward Methodology Women fishworkers find representation in PIFWA A lack of detailed gender specific data led to an By P Balan, Adviser to the Penang Inshore approach where reviewing existing literature was Fishermen Welfare Association (PIFWA) backed up by field enquiry by a team of specialists based throughout the Member States. The wide Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association geographic coverage required (EU 15 countries) meant (PIFWA) has moved a step forward by establishing a that, given the study’s scope, (i) enquiry needed to be women’s bureau in its committee. This will allow a mostly limited to specific key Fisheries Dependent woman representative to be present in organizational Areas (FDAs) or pockets of fisheries activity in “non meetings where decisions on activities and directions FDAs” and (ii) fully statistically rigorous surveys could of PIFWA are taken. not be undertaken and surveys had to rely upon opinion from a limited number of key knowledgeable individuals Previously, women participated alongside their husband in the FDAs. A template was devised to impose a and families in projects like mangrove replanting and common approach, and this was successful up to a workshops organized by the Association. Now, point, though variations in the different team members’ PIFWA’s action to include a women’s representative perception of the issues led to a diverse response. in its committee means that women will play a bigger However value was seen in this in that where there role in future activities. were common results, these were seen as being the more valid because of the diversity of the researcher’s On 20 May 2002, a meeting between PIFWA and a outlooks. group of women from the fishing community took place in Sungai Chenaam, Penang. These comprised Key areas covered fisherwomen and women involved in the . In the meeting, the women welcomed the · Employment data, including gender differentials, decision to have a women’s representative and they for each main discrete occupation within the elected one candidate for the post. fisheries sector i.e.: fishing, , marketing & distribution, processing, administration & The meeting also discussed problems faced by women management and informal (especially unpaid especially regarding micro credit: the problems faced spouses support).

7 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 · Legal and social status, women’s legal position the most relevant and potentially productive avenue concerning involvement in the sector, and problems to explore in order to better women’s’ position in inherent in this. fisheries. · Organizational, concerning how women are · The study found that there was economic organized within the industry (e.g. unions), what discrimination against women in the sector. Women formal support systems there are (e.g. childcare) are paid 12 per cent less than men for what appears and how education serves women in the sector. to be the same work, though given the limited data, · Socio-cultural constraints, resolved into three like may not have been compared exactly with like. aspects—external social factors that effect However, this is much less than the overall earnings women’s decisions, the social status (thus discount women face across the EU economies desirability) of fisheries occupations and `internal’ of around 22 per cent. psychological factors related to women’s interests, aspirations and concerns. Recommendations · Economic, mainly concerned with the respective Following these findings, a number of practical earnings for various fisheries occupations, and recommendations for subsequent action by the EU and particularly with gender-related earnings discounts Member States became clear: and economic alternatives. · Fishing: Women on the whole don’t wish to go to sea and aren’t particularly wanted, so whilst Key Findings ensuring that women can participate if they so wish It was a surprise to find that, for all the cultural and (i.e. no unfair barriers) there is little point in pushing economic diversity within the EU, the position and for greater involvement. However, for some small- perception of women regarding the fisheries sector scale, discrete inshore fisheries there could be scope showed a considerable degree of commonality. Within for community-based management (CBM), an this common pattern the following findings stood out approach both potentially beneficial in itself, and as interesting and important: one offering women a more widely acceptable as well as a more genuine role in the primary · Women feel unwelcome in the seagoing fishing sub- production segment. sector, but have little interest in participating anyway. It is not surprising that very few women · Aquaculture: Barriers are lower and opportunities are involved (3 per cent of the workforce). significant in this sub-sector. Focused training should enhance access to technical and managerial · Women feel discriminated against in aquaculture, positions viewed as desirable by women. Women but to a much lower extent, and are far more representatively involved. There are a few already manage a few specialized culture activities specifically women-managed aquaculture and enhancing their skills in this direction is also recommended, with community-based activities. management (CBM), seen as the most appropriate · Processing is the one sub-sector where women approach. are over-represented, but mainly because they predominate in low-grade unskilled jobs. · Fish Processing: There is clearly discrimination processing is perceived to hold few career in processing, but it is perhaps best to help women prospects for women, mostly with good reason. exit the industry rather than concentrate on upgrading what are likely to always be low-grade · Management/ administration: women have made jobs. So in non-FDAs there is little justification for significant inroads into this segment, which is both special support other than the general education/ better rewarded and more positively viewed by training that will allow women to move out of these women. It is particularly in the public sector that undesirable jobs, which are probably insecure women have been successful. anyway. In short, this is part of general national · Informal: the role of women as support to seagoing gender-support and overall development spouses (“collaborating spouses”) was found to be programmes. In FDAs, though, there is justification both very important and highly undervalued by the in assisting women to take `ownership’ of some fishing community. This was seen as providing added-value or processing functions so that they

8 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 can maximize and upgrade their shore-based role ing fish” and questions (unanswered) about where the as co-managers of family businesses. word came from. That question in turn reminded me · Administration: Environmental and resource of the word . I wondered why the one word— management issues are potential key themes for —seems to have a straightforward meaning women’s continually expanding involvement, and of `fish-seller’, while the other has such derogatory so training should focus on these as well as core connotations about women’s temperaments, vocal management subjects. Public sector administration characteristics, and vocabularies. Is there a common and research are identified as key areas where derivation? And why the relationship to fish? women’s involvement and equality are relatively In the compounds fishmonger and fishwife, the “fish” high, and probably where there are the best element is circumstantial; the real link lies in the second prospects for further enhancement. Thus training halves of the compounds, -monger and -wife. Sceptical? directed towards the public sector will probably Read on. yield best results. · Women’s shore-side support role - “Collaborating Let’s start with wife. The word’s earliest meaning was spouses”: Our principal recommendation concerns simply “woman”. Today, we use woman in compounds acknowledging, upgrading and expanding women’s such as chairwoman and policewoman to indicate support role in the sector. A package of support “woman who does X”. In the same way, -wife meant should be devised to promote the enhancement of woman who does X business. An alewife kept an this role for women, possibly containing specific alehouse; an oyster-wife sold oysters; a fishwife sold support for (a) enhanced mutual support networks, fish. The modern survivors of this meaning are (b) assistance with improved communication housewife, meaning a woman in charge of a house, (especially internet-based), (c) public awareness and midwife (the combining form mid- is either an campaigns to enlist wider community support adverb of means, or a preposition meaning “with”— (especially from fishermen), (d) training including the jury’s still out on that one). a mix of specific local technical and managerial courses plus IT skills to encourage women to become the internet managers for their family enterprises This would reinforce the networking capabilities of shore-based women as well as generating transferable skills in a marketable area, should fisheries fail the family, or the women require greater independence. Topics that training would need to cover could include: management, marketing, selling, quality control, modern processing, business planning, accountancy & bookkeeping, employment regulations and taxation, safety at sea, environment and long term resource management.

Etymology were working-class women who sold fish Fishmonger, fishwife from baskets along the quays of fishing villages, touting their wares at the top of their lungs. Sweet Molly The following comes from an old, out-of-commission Malone aside, this was not considered a reputable web site called The Mavens’ Word of the Day, occupation for women, who too readily picked up the recycled and distributed by Dick Thien to a list of sailors’ rough talk, and gained a bad reputation for both journalists the timbre and content of their speech. It’s interesting Recently on the NPR show, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell that few dictionaries record this meaning—not even Me”, a contestant identified herself as a fishmonger. the OED—and our citations are recent, so I can’t This was the occasion for many jokes about “mong- actually tell when the term entered the language.

9 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 Dating is not a problem with monger. The radio show As secretary of Midnapore District Women guests made an understandable assumption that if the Fishworkers’ Welfare Association, Ratna travels along person is the monger, the main verb must be to “mong”. Bengal’s coastline voicing her concern for fishermen’s They probably like to think they were being original, livelihood. but they weren’t. The Old English verb is mangian, and mong is a variant form of this verb. It meant to Though she has managed to wrest some sops for traffic in; barter and now survives only in the agent fishermen, government indifference often comes in the noun, monger, and compounds that use it—the chiefly way. “They have thousands of demands,” Fisheries British terms fishmonger and ironmonger. (The Extension Officer, Piyush Kanti Jana said. “We have fishmonger’s and the ironmonger’s are shops that sell conceded some but it’s impossible to grant all. It is the fish or hardware, respectively.) Centre that can help.”

Today, monger is used most often as a more abstract Government apathy only helps reinforce Ratna’s synonym of peddler and trafficker, when referring to resolve to fight destruction of marine life. She first raised something negative that is being promulgated. In this her voice in protest when the catch along the Digha- use, it’s incredibly productive: a newspaper archive Contai coastline dipped. search of the last two years shows the favourite According to Sreekanta Das, member of a 10,000- compound form is gossip-monger, with rumour, scandal, strong fishermen’s association at Dadanpatrabar: mischief, hate, gloom, doom, rule, sensation, cliché and ‘‘During off-seasons we catch, on an average, 15-20 crisis also collocating with a healthy frequency. Its kg fish. But 10 years ago, it was just the double. If this implication can be as benign as “Victorian nonsense- downtrend continues, we will soon starve.” mongers”, or as insidious as “brutal race-monger”. My favourite is from a particularly florid translation (from Ratna cited several reasons for fish scarcity. ‘‘Foreign the online Early Church Fathers collection) of St. trawlers are encroaching in our economic zone. With Augustine’s anti-Manichaean writings: “O abominable their better technology, they make a clean sweep. But monger! O execrable perdition and ruin of deluded they are selective in their catch. What they don’t want souls!”—this under the chapter-title accusation “He is chucked out in the sea. This destroys marine life,” compels to the perpetration of horrible turpitudes”. she said. Judging by the kind of vitriol you can excite if you cross St. Augustine, I’d take a fishwife any day.

In the News/ India India: Creating waves A fisherwoman in India carries the message of conservation and management An article by Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay in The Indian Express, New Delhi, dated 18-5-2002

Dadanpatrabar, West Bengal, May 17: An illiterate fisherwoman from Dadanpatrabar in East Midnapore is creating waves along the coastal belt of Bengal with her slogan ‘‘Save the sea, save marine life”. Another reason for the declining catch is farms set up Ratna Majhi’s voice has now travelled beyond the along coasts for prawn culture. ‘‘The Centre’s state’s boundaries. She will address a seminar in Aquaculture Authority Law helped people set up prawn Bangalore in June. The Thiruvananthapuram-based culture farms which have harmed marine life,” Ratna National Fishworkers’ Forum, a countrywide said. organization of fishworkers, is the organizer. Ratna, a Greenpeace International award winner, champions the Aquaculture expert Bishnupada Sen, who was in- cause of marine life after learning from experience. charge of several government projects, shares Ratna’s 10 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 fears. He said the farms’ untreated toxic effluents are Josefa Soto and Cristina de Castro, respectively the dangerous. Ratna has been protesting but it hasn’t really President of Rosa dos Ventos and the national fisheries helped her people get a better deal. After several delegate of the Apostolate of the Sea, spoke in Vigo protest marches from last August, all she got were about the task facing working society in the 21st century some bicycles, gloves and shoes for fellow fisherfolk to humanize. They declared that “seafaring fishermen and some all-weather roads in her locality. are this century’s new and silent slaves”.

Members of her organization, however, have faith in In the opinion of Soto and de Castro, the proposal will Ratna and more people are closing ranks with her. not only contribute to improving life of the workers but ‘‘Earlier, we had no hope for the future,” Ashalata Rout, the rest periods will also, at the same time, reduce a fisherwoman, said. ‘‘But she (Ratna) has brought us fishing effort as the current working regime, more than hope.” 10 hours daily, is a factor that favours overfishing. Josefa Soto, and Cristina de Castro are carrying out the awareness raising campaign across the length and In the News/ Spain breadth of the country in order to obtain the half million signatures needed. All kinds of Spanish institutions will Silent Slaves be contacted, including the official representatives in Madrid and Europe. The promoters hope that the Fishermen’s wives associations in Spain have signatures can be presented before 30 November, a initiated a campaign to improve the working and date that will coincide with a Congress they are living conditions of sea-going fishermen organizing in Vigo. An article by L.C. Saavedra in Voz de Galicia, Spain, translated by Brian O’Riordan. Film/ Africa Several organizations have initiated a campaign to obtain the 500,000 signatures needed for establishing a Fishers of Dar Common Law. Several associations of seafarer’s wives from all over Spain will send a proposal to the A film on fisheries in Tanzania by Lina Fruzzetti, Akos Ostor and Stephen Ross Congress of Deputies for establishing, as Common Law, a norm for regulating the activity of sea-going Fishers of Dar explores the continuity and integrity of fishermen. They will continue to collect the half million traditional fishing practices in contemporary Dar es signatures needed until 30 November 2002. Salaam, Tanzania. Dar es Salaam is a metropolis of three million people, yet the city’s demand for fish is Till today, there is no legal way for fishermen to improve entirely met by equipment and methods practiced there their on-board working and living conditions through for centuries. the Constitution. An initiative such as this to establish a Common Law requires half a million signatures for it The film takes the viewer to the city harbour’s pier to be taken up by the Congress, and for it to be treated and and to a small fishing community nearby. as a binding norm within the Spanish legal system. The The film shows the hundreds of people who make a authors of this proposal are several associations of living in the process, before the fish reaches the fishermen’s wives from the autonomous communities customer. The story begins before dawn, with small of Galicia, Basque country, Catalonia, Andalucia and sailboats and bigger diesel-powered boats leaving for possibly, even from the Canary Islands communities. fishing grounds. We see fishermen and women, boat builders, boat crews, auctioneers, labourers and The main idea of such a law is that the legal system vendors. Not least are the women who come with can be used to increase the rest period on shore as a buckets, buy and clean small fish and go home by bus function of the time worked at sea. It is proposed that, to sell fried fish in the hundreds of smaller markets of initially, for every four months worked, two months of the city. Recently the market was demolished to provide rest be provided. The main sticking point that must be for expansion of the harbour. The age old process solved is who will pay for this. To start with, it is continues but under difficult new conditions. 37 min. proposed that the government approaches the European Sale $250. For more information see: Social Fund to pay for part of this rest period, and that the rest be shared by boatowners and the administration. http://www.filmakers.com/indivs/FishersDar.htm

11 YEMA YA NO. 10: AUGUST 2002 Net Resources WIF report The English report of the ICSF Workshop on Gender and Coastal Fishing Communities in Latin America organized from 10 to 15 June 2000 YEMAYA in Prainha do Canto Verde, ICSF’s Newsletter on Gender Ceara, Brazil, is now and Fisheries available on ICSF’s website. (www.icsf.net) Published by International Collective in The workshop brought together 36 participants— Support of Fishworkers men and women—from five countries in the Latin 27 College Road, Chennai 600 006 American region, i.e. Chile, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador India and Mexico. Included in this document is the Tel: (91) 44 827 5303 report of the workshop, as well as background Fax: (91) 44 825 4457 papers from Chile, Mexico, Peru and Brazil that Email: [email protected] were prepared for the workshop. These papers Web site: http://www.icsf.net discuss the situation of women fishworkers in these countries and their role in organizational and Edited by decision-making processes. Chandrika Sharma

Printed at WIF Bibliography Sri Venkatesa Printing House, Chennai An FAO document that gathers a selection of publications on gender and fisheries produced Please do send us comments and from 1990 onwards. We carry the Abstract... suggestions to make the newsletter more relevant. We would also like In the last 20 years the issue of “Women in names of other people who could be Fisheries” (WIF) has become increasingly interested in being part of this initiative. important. WIF as a term underlines not only the We look forward to hearing from you role of women in the fishery industry as such but and to receiving regular write-ups for also women as wives and mothers with all their the newsletter. household activities. The aim of this work is to bring the issue of WIF closer to readers and offer Writers and potential contributors to them an overview of a wide range of documents YEMAYA, please note that write-ups on women’s participation and role in the fishing should be brief, about 500 words. They industry. The study’s focus is from 1990 to date. could deal with issues that are of direct The bibliography is divided into five main parts: relevance to women and men of fishing monographs, articles, documentaries, projects communities. They could also focus on and workshop papers, and website addresses on recent research or on meetings and WIF. The reference is as below: workshops that have raised gender issues in fisheries. Also welcome are Kyprianou, M-H (comp.), Bibliography on gender life stories of women and men of fishing and fisheries (1990-2001), FAO Fisheries Circular. communities working towards a No. 969. Rome, FAO. 2001. 42p sustainable fishery or for a recognition of their work within the fishery. Please The document can be downloaded from: also include a one-line biographical http://mujeres.infopesca.org/pdf/art006.PDF note on the writer.

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