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.
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.
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.
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.
Through a fund set up under the EU-Côte d'Ivoire SFPA, the women fish processor cooperative purchased a refrigerated container and placed it in San Pedro, a fish-producing area in the west of the country, which lacked conservation facilities and where large quantities of artisanal fisheries landings were lost as a result.
After weeks of meetings with national authorities and partners, USCOFEP-CI suggests a plan to improve living and working conditions for women fish processors, and asks for some of the EU Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) sectoral support funds to be redirected to the fight against Covid-19.
