Sagar Samudrik Mahila Matsyajibi Samabay Samity Ltd. drew up plans for economic empowerment of women fish workers of the Island on 22nd March 2019. In a meeting attended by Pradip Chatterjee, President of Dakshinbanga Matsyajibi Forum (DMF), Milan Das, General Secretary of DMF and Abdar Mallick, Secretary of Sagar Matsyajibi Forum detailed discussions were held on the problems faced by the women fish workers and the ways and means to address those. The meeting was attended by around 30 women fish workers. It was presided and coordinated by respectively Mumtaj Begum, President of the Society and Manasi Bera, Secretary of the Society. At the beginning Mumtaj Begum welcomed the participants. Then Manasi Bera gave a brief history of the cooperative and requested the participants to come out with a concrete plan of activities. It may be mentioned that Sagar Samudrik Mahila Matsyajibi Samabay Samity Ltd. has been the first and only women fish workers’ cooperative society on the island. Registered in November 2018, the Cooperative Society was organised through relentless efforts of DMF leadership. DMF President Pradip Chatterjee asked all participants to come together to discuss and decide on issues that are important for the women fish workers’ economic empowerment and refrain from formal speech giving. The first issue raised by the women fish workers was the low wages they receive for sorting and drying job at the fish landing centres. It was stated that the women fish sorters and dryers had to work from 6pm in the morning to 5pm in the afternoon. The wages for 11 hours of hard work have been Rs.200/- plus food. But in one fish landing centre only Rs.180/- was paid to the women fish workers and that too without food. The meeting resolved to demand uniform wages calculated on the basis of minimum wage for 8 hours plus overtime. As a first step it was decided to demand an increase from Rs. 180/- to Rs. 200/ for women workers who are paid Rs. 180/-. The Society would write a letter to the Sagar Matsyajibi Forum in this regard. In addition, the women fish workers also resolved to develop a fish sorting and drying centre of its own. The women’s society will buy wet fish from the fishers, process it and then sell the dry fish to traders. For this they will approach the existing fish landing centres for land and the government for assistance in infrastructure. Further, they resolved to establish a fish meal production unit that would run all around the year and a fish pickle production unit. They resolved to approach the Fisheries Department for necessary training and assistance. Small loans for member women fish workers and additional income generation through goatery, duckery, poultry etc. were also discussed. It was decided that Society members will sit together shortly to discuss and decide on concrete steps. The marginalised women fish workers concluded their meeting with renewed hope and resolve to stride forward.