Dr Miriam Ameworwor

Ghana | Approximately 40 million people are globally employed in the fisheries value chain, with 90% of these in small-scale fisheries. Women play an extensive role in fisheries, being present throughout the value chain from production to marketing, and constitute half of the small-scale fisheries workforce globally. However, their contribution are constrained by culturally, socially, and economically prescribed gender roles which are strictly followed in fishing communities.

Women mainly harvest invertebrates and seaweeds by gleaning. Catching finfish is predominantly performed by men. Women going out in canoes to participate in finfish harvesting is considered taboo in some African cultures. Processing and marketing are traditionally perceived as women's roles, resulting in women accounting for only 15% of the production workforce and 90% of the processing workforce globally. These traditionally prescribed gender roles make women's livelihood in fisheries reliant on the fish supply. In Ghana, the narrative of gender segregation in fisheries is no different: men fish, and women process and market the catch. Women's access to fish for processing and marketing depends on their ability to invest in a fisherman's business, have a fisherman as a husband, or access credit to purchase fish. These factors, coupled with tradition and culturally defined roles, limit women's access to fish and their potential to contribute to fisheries in Ghana.

A preliminary survey conducted by Dr Ameworwor in 2023 at Nawuni, a fishing community along the White Volta River, revealed that the women had broken through the limitations and were accessing fish by going out in canoes to participate in finfish harvesting using baskets. It is a women's fishery that utilises baskets to primarily catch butter catfishes (Family: Schilbeidae), a skill passed down through generations from mothers, aunts, and grandmothers to daughters, nieces, and grandchildren. The fishery provided a livelihood to women, making up the primary occupation of 92.90% of the fishers interviewed. 

According to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, all women and girls must be empowered. Fishing has empowered these women to meet their responsibilities as caregivers of their homes, as well as meet the nutritional needs of their families. A key pathway to women's empowerment is to increase their opportunities to earn and control additional income, thereby expanding their decision-making authority and autonomy. To keep the women fishers along the White Volta empowered, the fishery must be sustainably managed using scientifically informed options through a co-management approach.

By this approach, the women fishers assume ownership of the resource and lead the actions to sustain it, backed by scientific data. Additionally, interventions that promote gender inclusion at all stages of the fisheries value chain are necessary to maintain the livelihoods of women in small-scale fisheries. Dr Ameworwor's study aligns with SDG 2, 5, and 14.4, which aim to achieve food security, empower all women and girls, and implement science-based management plans to restore fish stocks to their maximum sustainable yield. The focus of her proposal is to manage and enhance the women's fishery sustainably, increasing their participation in fishing and their contribution to Ghanaian fisheries.

This project aims to enhance women-led fisheries along the White Volta through sustainable exploitation of fish resources, thereby supporting the long-term livelihood of women fishers and increasing their active involvement in fishing. The project will assess the basket (women) and gillnet (men) fishery regarding resource overlap and determine the population dynamics of the main fish species identified to achieve this aim. This will inform fishery management strategies to effectively manage the women's fishery for sustainable exploitation.

Dr Ameworwor's project will explore the factors influencing and favouring the shift in fisheries gender roles, assess the fishing practices of women fishers, develop an action plan, and provide interventions to manage fisheries through a co-management approach, enhancing fishing activities and practices. Interventions will be in capacity building and the formulation of fisheries management strategies. The Fisheries Commission will lead the implementation of formulated management strategies. The project will be undertaken in Nawuni, Kumbungu District, and Dipale, Savulugu-Nanton District, along the White Volta River in the Northern Region of Ghana.

Dr Miriam Ameworwor is a Research Scientist in the Fishery and Aquaculture Division of Water Research Institute, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-WRI), as well as a lecturer in the Department of Fisheries Science and Aquaculture, CSIR College of Science and Technology. She holds a PhD and an MPhil in Fisheries Science, and a BSc in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Her research interests include fisheries management, fisheries ecology, and fish biology. She is a reviewer for various international peer-reviewed journals. She has to her credit several journal publications, research reports, and conference papers.