Women in fishing communities play multidimensional roles. Women pervade fisheries and their roles were identified as workers in both fisheries, markets, processing plants and non-fishery, mothers who give birth to successors, as caregivers of the family, as connecting agents of social networks, as representatives of local culture, as community workers and governors. The main aim of this study is to identify and measure women’s involvement in global fishery value chains and investigating their activity, access and control profiles in fishery value chains in selected destinations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Primary data were obtained from fisheries and aquaculture operations in Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Honduras. . Participant observation with experienced investigators, focus group discussion and gender resources maps were the principal data collection tools. Women play non-significant roles in capture fishery production and totally depend on religion and culture while their contribution in aquaculture production is great. Female roles were centred on household activities which take them away from direct income generation and access to the capital assets. Less educated, resource poor women are concentrated in the low value end of the value chains while the high value end of the value chains is mainly handled by the resource rich males and limited number of educated, resourced owned females. Women’s engagement is less in modern value chains with few nodes than the traditional complex and lengthier value chains.

This women’s cooperative is providing livelihood options for the women and men of the island of Isabela in the Galápagos Islands. This small-scale enterprise is simultaneously decreasing pressures on overexploited local fisheries by adding value, rather than scale, to its production of smoked fish. Fishermen in the region have traditionally relied on declining populations of coastal sea cucumber, lobster, and shark for their livelihoods. Asociación de Mujeres de Isabela provides an alternative by creating a market for sustainably-sourced tuna, which is processed, smoked, and sold to tourists. Additionally, the Pescado Azul initiative contributes to the conservation of the Galápagos Islands’ unique and endemic biodiversity by using guava wood, a destructive invasive species, to smoke the fish.

While archaeological evidence confirms that inhabitants of the Chiloe archipelago used sea plants for food and medicine, today’s islanders sell off all the harvest. A fun workshop brings back to the island its ancient practices

The Marine Extractive Reserve Corumbau, a MPA unit, was created for the sustainable use of fishing
resources. The exclusive right over resources requires that its population of fishermen and fisherwomen have consistent and equitable participation in the decision-making for an effective co-management. This research considers the importance of incorporating women’s experiences and knowledge in the MPA management. We aimed to know the working conditions of women involved in fishing at the Corumbau MPA and reasons that affect their participation in management and decision-making. We have heard fisherwomen and shellfish collectors of three communities, during two consecutive years, through interviews and participative observations. Women’s participation in meetings of MERC is limited and hampered by factors related to gender, unmet expectations, lack of information. The dynamics of the meetings and the decision-making process need to address specific women’s needs and priorities, with gender sensitive measures. Increasing women’s rights at MERC and hearing their voices could lead to significant impacts on personal and collective levels, benefiting the communities as a whole. Measures directed to inform, motivate and support them could increase their degree of confidence in comanagement and increase their participation, with positive reflections on conservation and socioeconomical conditions.

The Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems (SUCCESS) Program, funded by the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the Coastal Resources Center (CRC) in partnership with the University of Hawaii Hilo (UHH) and several regional partners set out to test the premise that the general Fiji-style model for managing women-dominated small scale cockle fisheries using a co-management approach coupled with no-take
reserves has high potential for transferability worldwide. This article describes two initiatives for co-management of women-dominated cockle (Anadara spp.) fisheries—one implemented on Zanzibar Island of Tanzania and another implemented in Nicaragua—that were based on the Fiji model.

The article marks the gradual but firm progress in Peru's artisanal fishing industry where women are now included in the social organizations of artisanal fishworkers.

This article is a compilation from various sources on out-of-work women encarnadoras (hook baiters) in Chile take up acting and win wide acclaim.

This is a report of the Latin American Network of Women working in the fisheries sector (NETWIF), which has been active for five years.

Many groups are providing support to the struggle being waged by the community of Mehuín in southern Chile to halt the latest move by the cellulose company, CELCO. This article is based on information provided by ECOCEANOS, Chile.

The community of Mehuín, on the southern coast of Chile, is fighting against the polluting operations of the cellulose company, CELCO, in order to preserve the source of their livelihoods.