In this article, we take a look at the day-to-day running of four cooperatives of women fishmongers and fish processors in Benin, describing their challenges and the value of mutual support to survive.
Women in fisheries at the forefront of African and European fisheries stakeholders’ dialogue
The message from African artisanal fishers to the FAO: "Sardinella should be reserved for small-scale fishers, for human consumption, not for fishmeal"
The FAO organised a workshop in Accra (Ghana) from 5 to 7 December on the theme: "Optimising food and nutritional security and the benefits of small pelagic species production in sub-Saharan Africa". In a joint presentation, CAOPA and CFFA warned of the impact of the decline in sardinella in West Africa on fishers, women fish processors and consumers.
UNOC 2025: Fishers’ Call to Action raises global attention
Côte d'Ivoire: "Thanks to this refrigerated container, women processors and fishmongers in San Pedro are able to get by"
Two years after receiving funding from the EU-Côte d'Ivoire SFPA to buy a refrigerated container, we examine how the women of the Société Coopérative de Femmes Mareyeuses Grossistes et Détaillantes in the fishing port of San Pedro are faring. Beyond fish preservation, enabling women to become autonomous remains a challenge.
Artisanal Fishing Local Councils “CLPA”: the fight to preserve the marine ecosystem
Since 2010, Senegal has set up CLPAs as a fisheries co-management system. They aim to resolve problems at local level and involve fishers in monitoring, control, and surveillance. However, there is a lack of resources for this system to be implemented effectively. An article by journalist Paule Kadja Traoré.
"The European Union must be credible and demonstrate that EU taxpayer’s money is well spent in support of sustainable fishing”
From 8 different African countries, representatives of coastal fishing communities participated to a seminar on the external dimension of the CFP hosted by the EU Long Distance Fisheries Advisory Council (LDAC) in Sweden and then travelled to Brussels where they exchanged with decision-makers from the Commission and the European Parliament.
"Conservation is not for conservation's sake. Conservation is for us: we need a fair place for communities."
Driven by a local NGO, which is committed to community development as well as turtle protection, Côte d'Ivoire's first marine protected area (MPA) is an example of how conservation can be achieved while respecting the rights and access of artisanal fishing communities to their traditional fishing grounds.
To go far, you have to be together. The Ivorian women in artisanal fisheries can tell you how
This article by Andréa Durighello analyses, through the example of the Ivory Coast, the value of women's cooperatives and associations in African artisanal fisheries: in the professionalisation of the trade, in strengthening capacities, in representing women in professional organisations and, above all, in responding unitedly to the hazards of life.
“People think the fishing business is for the illiterate, but they cannot be more wrong”
Small-scale fishers' "little babel" speaks with one voice at UN oceans conference
Doors wide open for the San Pedro cold store
The 40-foot container is the first real impact perceived by fishmongers and processors from the sustainable fisheries partnership agreement between Côte d'Ivoire and the European Union, but the women face another challenge: access to credit and thus to the liquidity needed to build up working capital, which is necessary to buy fish.
A local initiative to save turtles to turn into the biggest co-managed MPA in Côte d'Ivoire
The Grand Béréby Marine Protected Area will cover about 2400 square kilometers of ocean and will include a 54 km stretch of coastal water, to be “free from industrial fishing”. Besides vital fisheries, the area is home to endangered populations of leatherback, olive ridley and green sea turtles and threatened populations of sharks and rays.
“Our business is to create jobs for our communities”
AU-EU Summit: High-level commitments, but artisanal fishing communities want concrete action
EU-AU Summit: African fisheries stakeholders speak with one voice
With two weeks to go before the summit that will bring together the leaders of the European Union and the African Union in Brussels on 17 and 18 February 2022, the team that has taken over the reins of AFRIFISH - the continental platform that brings together non-state actors in African fisheries - is determined to make itself heard.
Something cool for Côte d'Ivoire women fish processors will give them more power in the marketplace
Access to refrigeration is difficult for women in fisheries in many West African countries. With a first trial in San Pedro which has guaranteed the supply of fish to women in Abidjan, now it’s the Grand Béréby women fish processors who are expecting a refrigerated truck, a container and an ice machine. An article by Rich Press.
Looming clouds in the Gambian coastal skies
In this story by Béatrice Gorez and Dawda Foday Saine and first published in the Yemaya magazine in November, the authors look at the obscuring future of women in fisheries in Gambia as the dense fumes of fishmeal factories are being regurgitated into the environment. Fishmeal factories compete with women for access to small pelagics, and encourage overfishing and illegal fishing.
