San Antonio – Women in Aquaculture

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San Antonio – Women in Aquaculture

Category:Updates

Roy Palmer was invited to speak at the “Women in Aquaculture” Session highlighting how AwF’s Women/Gender Network had now expanded to almost 700 members.

He mentioned that women are generally not included in aquaculture policy agendas and it was necessary for all countries to give some priority to gender in practical and policy programs. Whilst the 2014 voluntary guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries does incorporate some gender equality activities it should be noted that this does not cover aquaculture. Additionally, present guidelines and certification schemes for responsible aquaculture do not include gender specific terms.

Roy mentioned that there were some excellent good news stories, some of which have been reported though our ‘Woman of the Month’ award, but still much needs to be done to remove barriers that exclude women from the decision-making tables. These actions could start with registering and counting women and their activities, planning and allocating funds for gender action, and ensuring that expertise is available for implementing the plans.

In closing, Roy highlighted that Skretting Australia had recently donated to AwF so that we could draft a profile of women in aquaculture to provide basic but authoritative material on the contributions, roles and issues for women in aquaculture globally. He said that we were now working with the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asia Fisheries Society on this.

The session was organised by Canon Purdy and Kari Eckdahl (US Women in Aquaculture) and the other speakers were Carole Engel, Jackie Zimmerman, Paula Sylvia,  Kat Goetting and May Noe Noe Lwin.

 


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