Women’s influence on adaptation strategies when fisheries change

Abstract Women play central roles in fish industries and in adaptation strategies when fisheries change. Yet, the methods and approaches taken by women are not well-clarified or acknowledged with the result that, when fisheries change, fisheries policies and programs can be ill-equipped. We applied a gender lens to adaptation strategies in fisheries by surveying Fishery Improvement Project implementers across the aquatic value chain and comparing changes in fishery governance. Project implementers enumerated 100 fishery roles and described multiple forms of leadership by women fishers, cooperative representatives, harvest agents, primary processors, domestic partners of fishers, community fisher representatives and quality assurance technicians. Projects led by women (self-identified) had stronger scores for fisheries governance with 71% showing positive score increases since the project began as compared to 23% in the reference population. Key factors in successful fisheries adaptation were field data collection and time spent with local stakeholders over changes in the fishery. However, localized initiatives by women that did not fit easily into project templates went unrecognized by funders with the result that field work crucial to successful adaptation was being performed with voluntary labour at unsustainable levels. Investments in social capital and in women’s leadership at all levels of decision-making appear crucial to successful adaptation in fisheries.