Greenpeace announced today that it has signed the call to action by the international Coalition of Small Scale Fishers, a list of demands from artisanal fisheries workers directed at leaders and governments. It calls for communities to have preferential access to coastal areas, that they should co-manage these, and that women workers’ active contribution to this process must be guaranteed.
Anta Diouf, a woman fish processor from Mballing and a member of the Senegalese Network of Artisanal Fishing Women, said: “Where we used to have fifty boxes of fish to process, today we can’t even get twenty boxes. This is the terrible consequence of the trawlers overfishing, and of the fishmeal factories selling our fish so they can be used as animal feed thousands of miles away. When I remember those beautiful moments at the fishing dock with endless fish, and then I think about the current situation, I have tears in my eyes. This is why we have to keep fighting for our rights.”
The announcement marks International Women’s Day, which comes as international momentum builds amongst grassroots groups of women fisheries workers that are organizing against industrial overfishing, coastal destruction and attacks on their rights.
At a joint press conference held in Saint Louis, Senegal, by the Senegalese Network of Artisanal Fishing Women, NGO IDinsight and Greenpeace Africa, women fish processors’ leaders demanded that the Senegalese authorities keep their promise to protect the rights of women fish processor
IDinsight also released research showing that women in the artisanal fish processing sector directly and indirectly create hundreds of thousands of additional jobs. The study also shows that women in the sector are often the primary breadwinner in their households, and that they view a lack of legal recognition, industrial overfishing, and a lack of access to finance as key obstacles to their livelihoods.