Policy cycle in maritime affairs and fisheries

The European Union labour force survey (EU-LFS) provides the main aggregated statistics on labour market outcomes in the European Union. The EU-LFS is the main data source for employment and unemployment. Tables on population, employment, working hours, permanency of job, professional status etc. are included. It provides disaggregated statistics by sex, age groups, economic activity, education attainment and field of education, from which it’s possible to measure the presence of women working in the fishery sector.

The report gives an overview of the situation faced by women in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Europe and the prerequisites for improved gender mainstreaming. It presents and discusses the available data on female employment in the sector, the problems faced by women’s fisheries organisations and their future prospects. It also proposes that the impact of the EFF on the promotion of gender equality should be evaluated, and outlines the expectations vested in the EMFF. As part of the research conducted for this study, FLAGs received a questionnaire on the importance of gender in their strategies and the extent to which women are benefiting from Axis 4.

The report on the European Union Member States’ aquaculture sector contains some basic gender-disaggregated data on employment in the production segment of aquaculture. Although the statistics are incomplete, they nevertheless provide some useful information. Women’s participation varied greatly by country and the EU averages tended to be dominated by patterns in France and Spain.

Gender in aquaculture and fisheries, May 2013.

EU 2011 employment statistics show that numbers of women and men are almost evenly balanced, in terms of numbers of fish processing jobs. Looking at different countries, however, the figures differ. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have more than 60% of women as fish processing employees, whereas Malta and the UK have more than 60% of male employees. In Europe, fish processing employs about 150,000 people. France, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom supported the largest workforces, with more than 10,000 each.

This report contains a summary of the workshop of 13/02/2010 Recasting the net: defining a gender agenda for sustaining life and livelihoods in fisheries and aquaculture, and the synthesis reports by countries: Azores (Portugal), France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland (UK), Portugal and Spain. There is a French version of the workshop’s summary.

This note gives an overview of the current situation faced by women in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Europe and the prerequisites for improved gender mainstreaming. It presents and discusses the available data on female employment in the sector, the problems faced by women’s fisheries organisations and their future prospects. The note also proposes that the impact of the EFF on the promotion of gender equality should be evaluated, and outlines the expectations vested in the EMFF.

This work summarises existing knowledge on women’s participation in marine fisheries globally, and estimates their contribution in the Pacific Region. While women’s role varies between geographic regions, in the Pacific women account for 56% of annual small-scale catches, resulting in an economic impact of $363 million (total revenue: $110 million). Recognising and quantifying the role of women in fisheries has profound implications for management, poverty alleviation and development policy.

Women play an important role in fisheries, including fishing, aquaculture and processing of aquatic products. They have been very active in self-organising and networking to promote gender equality in many different areas across Europe. They are also a major actor in the diversification of fisheries enterprises income, resulting in the creation of new opportunities in areas affected by the decline of fishing. The report reviews best practices observed in the fishing areas of 14 EU countries. It also recommends actions for use of the European fisheries fund as an instrument to support and promote initiatives for women in European fisheries areas, particularly under Axis 4 of the EFF.

French fishers’ wives play an important role within fisheries enterprises by undertaking different tasks such as administration, repairing fishing gear and selling fish. This informal contribution became legally recognised with the creation of collaborative spouse status (CSS) in 1998. Katia Frangoudes and Enora Keromnes discuss the diverse contributions of women to Brittany fisheries and the reasons that push women to opt or not opt for legal status.

This paper focuses on the gender dimensions of wellbeing in fishing households in Northern Ireland. The impact of change in the fishing industry on women’s wellbeing is outlined and linkages are made between changing access to fish and changing roles of women in fishing households. The paper explores what this change means for how women perceive and pursue their wellbeing needs and aspirations and how they negotiate their needs with the needs of the household. In particular, the paper highlights how such priorities link to the complex and dynamic role of women in fishing households.

This paper analyses the process of transformation of on-foot shellfish gathering in Galicia, an activity that has traditionally been developed mainly by women without formalisation. However, in recent decades this situation has changed. Nowadays, many areas where this activity flourishes are in a situation of active co-governance with fishery organisations, with a type of formal licence system. Shellfishery organisations plan and control the shellfish gathering with the support of the government, even using seeding techniques to regenerate areas that were previously degraded. Over the last decade, they have avoided shellfish overexploitation and have managed the marketing of the shellfish much better than before. The article emphasises that the role of the government in this has been decisive, investing in training and capacity building. The empowerment of women has been an essential element, which has also enhanced the social valuation of the activity. This case may exemplify the possibilities open for progress in potential co-governing situations.

This paper is based on an externally-funded research project on women’s roles and contributions in fisheries conducted in Northern England in 2010. The paper analyses some of the major roles played by women and their contribution in four selected sectors: capture fishing, families and communities, trading, processing and management/administration.

Women play a wide range of roles in the fisheries industry making significant contributions across sectors. However, there is a significant gap in knowledge about women in English fisheries today, as identified in the literature review conducted at the early stage of the study. This study aims to help close this knowledge gap and to inform policymaking with evidence-based information. This was collected and analysed by the Women in Fisheries (WIF) Team from Greenwich Maritime Institute, the University of Greenwich and IRIS Consulting between January and April, 2010.

This manual has been prepared to facilitate gender analysis and project planning in fisheries development projects. It’s intended to be a toolkit to help project managers and implementing counterparts (such as government and non-government field workers, and private- and public-sector development consultants, community organisers and leaders of local groups), to facilitate the integration of gender issues into the project cycle.

This document is the final report on the mainstreaming of gender in fisheries and aquaculture. A stock taking exercise contains two outputs arising from the following activities: (i) consultancy work on a stocktaking and planning exercise on gender mainstreaming in fisheries and aquaculture, and (ii) a stockt aking and planning exercise on gender mainstreaming in fisheries and aquaculture.

Indonesia gender impact assessment of the RFLP interventions in Indonesia for regional fisheries livelihoods programme for South and Southeast Asia.

Gender issues have been mainstreamed by the regional fisheries livelihoods programme (RFLP) and considered as crosscutting issues. The present assessment looked at how the interventions have changed the roles of beneficiaries in domestic, productive and community management roles. In addition, the assessment covered the degree of participation of women in the conducted activities. Focus group discussions with selected beneficiaries, who represent the five national level outputs of RFLP, were conducted in the areas of interventions in Kupang District, Kupang Municipality, Rote Ndao and Alor districts.

The establishment of the European network AKTEA in 2005, grouping together fisherwomen’s organisations, illustrates the collaboration between fisherwomen and social scientists working in the field of fisheries. AKTEA is the result of a three-year programme with women in fisheries within the framework of a European research programme called FEMMES. One of the main objectives of AKTEA is to facilitate the exchange of experiences between European fisherwomen’s organisations and to lobby at the EU level for the rights of fisherwomen. The main action of the network was the modification of Directive 86/613/EEC, the inclusion of partners and also the obligation to apply the directive at national level. Fortunately both amendments were included in Directive 2010/41/EU, replacing the previous one. AKTEA, like all women’s organisations, is based on voluntary work, which makes their functioning and survival difficult. Requests submitted for EU financial support were unsuccessful.

The Spanish Network of Women in the Fishing Sector is a national organisation sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment. This network was established under the initiative of the Secretariat General for Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment) and financed by the EFF (Axis 5). The network aims for the integration of women into all activities within the fisheries sector, to increase the visibility of women and to promote equal opportunities within the sector. It’s the only existing network supported by national and European public funding. It’s also unique because it is the only fisherwomen’s organisation established from the top down, whereas all others were based on bottom-up initiatives.

The Uhaina Association is a local group composed of women and families employed in the fishery sector in the region in the Ports of Hendaye, Ciboure, Saint-Jean-de-Luz , Bayonne and Capbreton .

This is an organisation that unites women from fishing communities around the North Sea to find solutions to common problems and issues within fishing communities. The network deals with training, education, advice etc. It has a seat on the executive committee of the North Sea and Pelagic Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) where it acts as a socio-economic watchdog. The network heads up the socio-economic focus group of the NSRAC.