In this story by Béatrice Gorez and Dawda Foday Saine and first published in the Yemaya magazine in November, the authors look at the obscuring future of women in fisheries in Gambia as the dense fumes of fishmeal factories are being regurgitated into the environment. Fishmeal factories compete with women for access to small pelagics, and encourage overfishing and illegal fishing.
Through a fund set up under the EU-Côte d'Ivoire SFPA, the women fish processor cooperative purchased a refrigerated container and placed it in San Pedro, a fish-producing area in the west of the country, which lacked conservation facilities and where large quantities of artisanal fisheries landings were lost as a result.
After weeks of meetings with national authorities and partners, USCOFEP-CI suggests a plan to improve living and working conditions for women fish processors, and asks for some of the EU Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) sectoral support funds to be redirected to the fight against Covid-19.
