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Sri Lanka’s fisherwomen required to overcome numerous hardships: Study

31 Aug 2021

  • Researchers note setbacks from age, marital status, illiteracy, poor facilities, poverty
  • Recommend provision of equipment, knowledge, training, and alternate earning options 
By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody Among full time fisherwomen, a local study noted that the majority are above 50 years of age, widowed, and illiterate, and moreover, engage in the profession by manually catching shellfish by wading through the shallow depths of lagoon waters without the use of fishing crafts, yet all are struggling below the poverty line. These findings were made in a study on the “Contribution of women in fisheries and fishery-related activities in Ponnalai, Jaffna” researched and authored by K. Nilakshana, P. Shobiya, J.G.B. Dhanushka Dilini, N. Ragavan, K. Sivashanthini, and S. Sutharshiny, and published in the Jaffna University's Science Faculty's Vingnanam Journal of Science 16 (1) on 18 August 2021. According to the Census and Statistics Department, as of 2019, 26.5 % of the female labour force was employed in the agricultural sector including in fisheries. The fisheries sector contributes 1.2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the economy and provided 500,000 employment opportunities in 2018. According to the same survey, men dominate the labour force when it comes to marine capture fishing activities, while as noted by M. Bavinck’s “Small fry: The economy of petty fishermen in Northern Sri Lanka” and R.L. Stirrat’s “On the beach: Fishermen, fishwives and fish traders in post-colonial Lanka”, the majority of the females in the fishing community are involved in both pre-harvest and post-harvest activities, including supporting the sorting out of the harvest from the nets, and are engaged in fish processing, retail fish marketing, and the gutting of fish in the markets; and this is true of the situation in Jaffna too. Furthermore, as Nilakshana et al. observed, similar to other parts of the country, a few of the females are also actively involved in the marine fish capture activities, as they own fishing boats and possess fishing operation licenses. However, the participation of these females in seashore and inland fishing activities, Nilakshana et al. elaborated, is not enumerated as a source of employment. As per P.T. Cliffe and O.A. Akinrotimi’s “The role of women in fishery activities in some coastal communities of the Rivers State, Nigeria”, even though the commitment of females in fisheries activities has long been accepted, it has however, not been as recognised nor appreciated as the involvement of their male counterparts. This invisibility of the participation of females means, as explained by  I. Siason, E. Tech, K.I. Matics, P.S. Choo. M. Shariff. E.S. Heruwati, and M. Sunderarajan’s “Women in fisheries in Asia”, the absence of institutional recognition, exclusion from decision making processes, values and cultures, and laws, and the State’s priority to ensure gender equity. In the case of Sri Lanka, Nilakshana et al. emphasised that since the data of fulltime fisher folk in the marine fishing sector is not categorised by gender, this in turn leads to policies targeted exclusively at males. Hence, Nilakshana et al. conducted a study from October 2018 to December 2018 in the Ponnalai coastal fishing village which comes under the Chankanai Divisional Secretariat Division and the Ponnalai J/170 Grama Seva Division, and the Chulipuram Fisheries Inspector Division, located in the Jaffna District in the Northern Province. In the village, there are around 250 full time fishers involved in lagoon-related fishing activities. Primary and secondary data collection was done during a field survey conducted at the Ponnalai Lagoon and the Sri Kannan Fisheries Co-operative Society. Structured questionnaires, direct observations, and group discussions were used to collect data from 25 fisherwomen (23% out of the 57 full time fisherwomen involved in the study), who were involved in fishing in the Ponnalai lagoon. Secondary data were collected from journals, books, reliable websites, the Grama Niladhari office, and the Fisheries Co-operative Society. All these fisherwomen are Sri Lankan Tamils and Hindus. The age of the fisherwomen who were interviewed ranged from 37-68 years. The highest level of female participation in active fishing was recorded in the 50-plus age group (72%) while the lowest (28%) was in the 30 to 50 years age group. The majority (64%) were widowed while around 36% were married. As V. Jeyasankar and S. Ganhewa observed in “Making ends meet: Women's livelihoods in post-war Sri Lanka”, female-headed families in the post-war era are common in the rural communities in the Ponnalai region. Elsewhere, G.O. Nwabeze, P.I. Ifejika, A.A. Tafida, J.O. Ayanda, A.P. Erie, and N.E. Belonwu’s “Gender and fisheries of Lake Kainji, Nigeria: A review”, mentions that widowed households need to be actively involved in fisheries in order to secure their daily living, food. and income. Around 80% of the females in the study group were found to be illiterate, while 20% had only primary education. The majority of the females from the Ponnalai region are descendants from traditional fishing families and had started to go out to sea at the age of approximately 12 years, as their poor socio-economic conditions pushed them towards fishing so as to stabilise their family income. Similarly, “Socio-economic status of fishermen of the Allaipiddy village, Jaffna” by N. Ragavan, K. Sivashanthini, and S. Sutharshiny, “Socio economic status of crab fishers and marketers in the Navanthurai fishing village in the Jaffna estuary” by A. Tharmine, K. Sivashanthini, and U. Edirisinghe, and the “Impacts of the Thondaimanaru barrage construction on the socio-economic status of fishing communities in the Thondaimanaru lagoon, Jaffna” by P. Shobiya, K. Sivashanthini, S. Sutharshiny, and K. Gunaalan, found that in the Jaffna Peninsula, the literacy rate of fisherwomen was found to be lower than that of fishermen. With regard to the number of children they had, 52% of the fisher families in the study sample had 7 to 9 children, which is a high figure. The smallest family size was 1 to 3 children (12%), while 36% of families had 4 to 6 children. Nilakshana et al. explained that owing to early marriages and the high number of children in the families, even after marriage, females are compelled to engage in fishing activities in order to sustain their families, while in the case of female-headed households, the family income and livelihood was solely dependent on the elderly females. The majority of the fisherwomen’s children had completed their secondary education (80%), while 8% had completed their primary education, and 12% had completed their tertiary education. Nilakshana et al. also noted that these children are keen to attend school due to the belief that good employment can be secured through better education, which in turn will be useful for them to earn more money and occupy a stable position in the society, which has been inculcated in them. This is further evidenced, Nilakshana et al. added, in the leap in the literacy rate in recent years among the younger generation. The fisherwomen directly depend on lagoon fishing activities and employ the manual picking method by targeting shrimps and crabs where they walk in the lagoon up to distances of over 100 metres on the coast, from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., up to the depth of their hip, and manually pick the target organisms, and they use a karappu (basket), tied to their hip, to store their harvest. On average, a daily catch of approximately two to four kg, depending on the precipitation and tidal changes, with higher catches of crabs being collected during May, while shrimps are collected during March. The average monthly catch is about 130-312 kg (60%), while 24% on average caught over 312 kg on a monthly basis, and 16% on average caught less than 130 kg per month. When resources get scarce, the number of active fisherwomen, as Nilakshana et al. observed, showed a severe decline. Further, the catch is primarily used for home consumption, with the surplus being sold in the nearby auction market. Also, since all the fisherwomen are Hindus, they tended to follow certain rules and regulations related to fishing activities, such as engaging in fishing activities throughout the year, six days per week, except on Fridays. The average monthly income of fisherwomen ranged from Rs. 7,800-13,000 (60%), while 20% each earned an average monthly income of over Rs. 7,800, and less than Rs. 13,000 respectively. As Nilakshana et al. found, during the rainy seasons and uneven climatic conditions that are unfavourable for fishing, certain fisherwomen shift their primary occupation to other fisheries-related activities such as selling fish in the market, and also engaging in casual labour for daily wages. Moreover, owing to their poor economic conditions, they are unable to invest in the fishing activities with advanced fishing techniques, which, Nilakshana et al. emphasised, in turn proved to be a major obstacle for them when it comes to expanding and diversifying their fishing activities. In a strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats (SWOT) analysis done by Nilakshana et al., the following were identified: strengths – female participation in coastal fisheries and the potential food security; weaknesses – poor post-harvest technology, the lack of modern technology, the lack of infrastructure and skilled manpower, and the lack of organisational support; opportunities – existing policies and established methodologies, increasing environmental awareness and the collection of aquatic organisms from the wild; and threats – uncontrolled harvesting, and the resultant reduction of both the density and diversity of shrimps and crabs. Nilakshana et al. explained that since deep catching methods cannot be utilised in the lagoon, both men and women have to employ shoreline harvesting methods. However, while almost all the females use solely hand picking, the males employ the stake net and raal koodu (hoop nets made out of bamboo or wood to catch prawns and shrimps), which in turn provides the latter with a higher harvest and higher earnings, thus resulting in an adverse financial impact on female-headed households. Another issue is that while the harvesting method of hand picking employed mostly by females is environmentally friendly, since they selectively catch only the matured and optimum sized fishes, shrimps, and crabs, the men catch all sizes of fishes including juveniles, which in turn leads to overfishing. Therefore, Nilakshana et al. pointed out that even though at present, males earn more than females, in the future, both parties may face problems in harvesting mature organisms, owing to the use of irrational harvesting methods, where men use nets, thus leading to a decrease in the survival rate of fishes, and in turn a decrease in earnings. In conclusion, Nilakshana et al. recommended the support of Governmental and non-Governmental organisations (NGOs) through the provision of suitable fishing gear and crafts (boats issued at subsidised prices by the Fisheries Ministry), enhancing their knowledge by giving correct instructions regarding harvesting, the regular monitoring of culture processes like sea cucumber culture and seaweed culture, as well as training on fish processing including dry fish production, which are activities that can be conducted on the seashore. The promotion of livestock farming is also to be encouraged, Nilakshana et al. suggested.  


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