“Women working in small-scale fisheries are a pillar of the family, of the economy and of food security”. Raissa Nadège Leka Madou is a fishmonger and fish processor based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Her cooperative, “Faveur divine”, is a member of the Union of Cooperatives of Women fish processors and fishmongers in Côte d'Ivoire.
She visited Brussels on the occasion of the Oceans and Fisheries Dialogues, organized by the European Commission as part of a stakeholder consultation aimed at developing a European Oceans Pact (EOP).
The EOP, intended to establish a coherent framework for all policies related to the oceans, is expected to have an impact on partnership policies with Africa, as the European Union is required to apply the same principles of its internal policy in its external action. Ms. Madou, representative of the African Confederation of Professional Organisations of Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA) during the dialogues, stated that “in its partnerships with African countries, the European Union should promote a European Oceans Pact that focuses on small-scale fisheries [...] essential for food security, for employment, and also for the conservation of biodiversity in coastal areas.”
But during her visit in Brussels, Ms. Madou also took the opportunity to specifically highlight the challenges faced by women in the SSF sector. For International Women's Day, we interviewed her to share her thoughts and ideas on how to improve the working and living conditions of women in the fishing industry.
She believes that the first step is to raise awareness of the role and work of women, of which there is so little knowledge and recognition: “We feed our children and pay for their education. We provide work and employment. We bring affordable products to our communities.” As a matter of fact, women of the African SSF sector are responsible for the majority of post-harvest activities, from the moment the fish arrives at the landing site until it ends up on consumers' plates. Along the West African coast, they provide the main source of protein for coastal populations. She insists that “when we talk about fishing, the impact is not on one person alone; the challenges impact an entire community.” These women are an essential link in their communities.
She wonders “why not even guarantee a proper legal status to women so that we can make a decent living from our work and our activities?” Admittedly, there are many challenges to overcome before women can have acceptable working conditions.
The first challenge is access to the raw material: “When the resource dwindles, there is speculation.” Whether it is overfishing, climate change or changes in the dynamics of international trade, the scarcity of fish has a direct impact on these women and prevents them from having stable access to the resource. “Our knowledge is passed down from mother to daughter, from father to son,” she explains. Climate change, on the other hand, is changing the game: “We no longer are able to predict when the fish will come.”
Out of season, these women used to import frozen boxes of small pelagic fish from Senegal and Mauritania. They “used to”, because they can no longer do so: the proliferation of fishmeal and fish oil factories in the region is depriving them these small oily, nutrient-rich fish, to the detriment of food security throughout the region. “We are in competition with these factories.” These fish are ground up whole and then exported to feed farmed fish in developed countries. "We are not against aquaculture, but we want sustainable aquaculture that respects the environment and food security." She insists: “Priority must be given to human consumption.”
Sometimes there’s abundance of fish, but the lack of conservation infrastructure means that they must sell at a loss: “If we had refrigerators, we could sell our products more regularly and at prices that would allow us to make a profit.” They need solar-powered fridges, of course, to circumvent the high cost of electricity. Moreover, electricity is not always available on many of their processing sites.
“We want sustainable aquaculture that respects the environment and food security. In the management of fishery resources, priority must be given to human consumption.””
The creation of cooperatives allows women to organize themselves, advocate or even access funds, albeit rarely. They raise awareness among other women processors about good practices, such as not buying juvenile fish or no longer using mangrove wood for smoking their products. “It is essential to integrate women into biodiversity management”, because they are influential in their communities, but also beyond: “Women are a driving force."
She calls on partners to support women fish processors and strengthen their capacities. She regrets that sometimes women receive initial training, but that there is no follow-up: “Those that seek to strengthen women, can't leave them along the way. They must evaluate, then keep moving”. In any case, Ms. Madou keeps moving.
Over the rest of the week, she was able to meet several European decision-makers and get the message across that small-scale fishing communities are a “lever for the inclusive social and economic development of our countries”, but they need to be recognized and supported by “[their] governments and the European partner."
Header photo: Raissa Nadège Leka Madou at the International Women's Day organised in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) by the African Confederation of Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA) in March 2023, by Joëlle Philippe
West Africa has pioneered several decades of artisanal fisheries management reform. Yet there are still major obstacles to co-management: a lack of political will reflected in low budgetary allocations; inadequate and poorly targeted support for fisher organizations; poorly defined roles and responsibilities of fishers in co-management; lack of enforcement of inshore exclusive zones; and inadequate defense of human rights and particularly the important role of women.