What’s New, Webby?

A new Women in Fisheries project


By Venugopalan N (icsf@icsf.net), Programme Manager, ICSF


New research exploring women’s roles in fishing families officially got going in August 2018, with the launch of the new Women in Fisheries project website.

This research examines how women contribute to the survival of both fishing families and the fishing industry, and will shed light on women’s roles, identities and well-being.

Collecting data on both sides of the Atlantic – in Newfoundland, Canada, and in the United Kingdom – the Women in Fisheries project is also hoping to understand how small-scale fishing families (those using boats under ten meters in length) are adapting to a changing environmental and economic climate.

Dr Madeleine Gustavsson, a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter’s European Centre for Environment and Human Health, is leading the study and wants a wide range of people to take part: “Listening to women’s stories is a central part of this research and the new website provides information about how people can sign up and share their stories. We want to hear from as many women involved in fisheries as possible, whatever their roles might be, she says.

Funded with support from an ESRC New Investigator grant, the project is also working closely with the small-scale fisheries practitioners and advocacy groups: AKTEA (European network for women in fisheries and aquaculture), LIFE (Low Impact Fishers of Europe) and the Coastal Producer Organisation.

You can view the new website at www.women-fisheries.com and follow Madeleine on Twitter here https://twitter.com/mcgustavsson.