This research involved finding women from the various "spots" in the value chain to interview. This is especially true in the case of how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected small-scale fisheries. In particular, I sought to investigate the topic of women's leadership roles in the fishing industry (including fishermen's organizations).
Another aspect of the "women in fisheries" literature that needs to be acknowledged is that on the exploitation of female fish workers in the context of the globalization of fisheries. Gender roles played a role in the language used by women in socially powerful positions e.g.
Research Methods and Ethical Considerations
Research Methods
Some of the women spoke at length about their history in the fishing industry; thus, life stories came into play in some interviews in an organic way. I drew networks at different scales: the women interviewed in Fishers' Net newsletters (published by Masifundise Development Trust/Coastal Links); the women interviewed in the media by the South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association (SADSTIA). In the case of the SADSTIA clippings and Fishers' Net newsletters, there was already information in the public domain that answered my research questions, which is why certain people were mentioned in patches but not personally interviewed.
Ethical Considerations
For South African and African news on small-scale fishers and Covid-19, I collected articles from the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements (CFFFA) and Too Big To Ignore (TBTI)14 websites. Where people's names are in the public domain, I've used them in screenshots of Instagram posts, in my network analysis, and in quotes from news articles. In the following section I record my decisions about the use of names when such names were not in the public domain.
I made the choice to be an open presence as ethnographer (Söderqvist, 1991) in the written ethnography as much as possible by carefully explaining particular choices in research techniques, which in turn can explain how research turned out. People were fully informed about the purpose of the research, and how the research would be used. I kept personal interviewees anonymous and used full names only if they were in pieces published in the public domain.
At the time, the anonymity of the individual interviewees seemed the best choice, especially given the power dynamics between me and some of the participants (eg white privilege17, class privilege). I didn't come across any mention of such activities this time (unlike the Honors survey), although I was prepared for it to happen (eg I knew the DEFF and CrimeStop phone numbers). So I decided to switch to digital research methods, which included monitoring the efforts of the ABALOBI organization to maintain the connection between small-scale fishers and the market despite the pandemic.
In the case of interviewing fishmongers in Hout Bay, an implicit understanding was reached that the purchase of fish constituted a 'fair exchange' for taking part in an interview.
Pioneering Fisherwomen, and Coming Together Across the Value Chain
The groups oriented towards small-scale fisheries (Masifundise/Coastal Links and ABALOBI) offered an opportunity to "virtually network" through women reading about other women's work in the Masifundise/Coastal Links Fishers' Net newsletter, ABALOBI Instagram posts or on the ABALOBI mobile phone application ( especially the ABALOBI Pantry section). Although Yemaya was not part of the network analysis per se, it is still important to note in the analysis. From previous research I had noticed that various South African women in the fishing industry were mentioned in the pages of the Fishers' Net newsletter, in addition to being mentioned in the Africa sections.
SADSTIA is a business collective, and their publications have focused primarily on women in management roles and in the capture fisheries. The women I interviewed had long histories in the fishing industry, and some came from multi-generational fishing families. Lucinda Krige is the first woman to qualify as a chief engineer in the South African fishing industry, and works for Sea Harvest.
Being alumni of certain institutions may be something they have in common with people (particularly women) in the South African fishing industry. For example, Celeste Diest and her children became involved in the fishing industry through the family's fishing heritage, as did Bianca Brophy. According to the middle-aged participants of the project, the roles have not changed that much.
The most notable changes in the role of women in the fisheries value chain seem to be happening through the large industrial fisheries companies.
Keeping the Lineage Going: Continuation of Small-Scale Fishing Despite Policies and (later) a Pandemic
Changing roles and continuing obstacles is something that also emerged in the global context of women in fisheries (Alonso-Población & Siar, 2018). Two other fish sellers spoke of the tough economic times faced by poor people in the small fishing industry. The "customization" of labor in the fishing industry is thus a significant part of the globalization of and thus increased mobility of fish as a commodity.
While working conditions in the factories have improved somewhat, more improvements are needed (Nuruzzaman et al., 2014). A fisherman's situation can also be further complicated by gender - Fisher Leader mentioned that women are in the minority of those who have fishing rights. Women use various marine resources but need permits to access them (Fisher Leader, 11 June 2020); access to these marine resources will undoubtedly become more urgent in light of Covid-19-related job losses.
Shameera Daniels (West Coast Rock Lobster Association) said that China imported 95% of South African WCRL in the 2018-19 season. For example, some fishing communities were still financially vulnerable in the face of Covid-19 (Kassen, 2020). The people caught up in these instances of friction sometimes seem to get lost among the multiple news stories going on simultaneously in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A June 2020 newsletter from The Hook (produced by Masifundise) makes it clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the “fault lines in South Africa’s food system” (Gwebani, 2020).
Physically Apart, But Connected: Using Technology to Extend Human Relationships Across Patches
Stories and Connections Via Technology
For small-scale fishermen, it is not possible to operate a viable, ecologically sound fishing industry in the absence of a fair market and without fair incentives. This means that small-scale fishermen cannot afford to launch their boats to feed their families, without the combat market support to support them. While there are struggles within the small-scale fishing communities, distributing the fish through the right channels helps others not to starve.
Small-scale food distributor Food Flow posted on Instagram, featuring stories of fishermen who had caught the fish it was distributing to others. Enabling small-scale fishermen to record their catches and visualize their data collectively, together with developing a fully traceable, storied seafood supply – to enable them to engage in the market from a position of power and increase the value of their livelihoods - will ultimately catalyze fishers' engagement in adaptive fisheries management and promote thriving, sustainable and equitable small-scale fishing communities. This story is definitely two layers - the stories the fishermen told ABALOBI and how ABALOBI tells those stories on social media.
There are still elements of consumer choice and "market-driven empowerment" at play in the telling of these stories. In the context of South Africa's neoliberal capitalist economy, there is perhaps a certain limit to the agency of these two fishermen to some degree; at the same time, the fishermen also create "room for maneuver" in this limited capitalist context by choosing socially useful platforms through which to share their stories. While women in the commercial sector are empowered through training and promotion – they themselves are pioneers – they are still dependent on the level of gender "innovation" that companies choose to undertake.
Women in the small-scale sector are empowered with access to markets, relying on their own networks and technology networks provided by the ABALOBI platform.
Conclusion
Some women are in supportive spaces that allow them to pave new paths for women in fisheries engineering, such as being a boat skipper or engineer. Available: https://www.plaas.org.za/covid-19-the-impact-on-small-scale-fishers-a-perspective-from-ocean-view/ [2020, 25 May]. A review of women's access to fish in small-scale fisheries, by Angela Lentisco and Robert U.
In Support of the Implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Ensuring Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, by Nilanjana Biswas. The ongoing transformations of women and gender relations in fisheries and small-scale communities in a globalized world. Confronting stereotypes in the fishing industry in post-apartheid South Africa: A case study of West Coast women in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Rights, benefits and social justice: the status of women workers employed in the shrimp processing industry in Strengthening the human dimension of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management in the BCC region. A study of marine protected areas and their impact on traditional small-scale fishing communities in South Africa.
Recasting the Net: Redefining a Gender Agenda for Sustaining Lives and Livelihoods in Small-Scale Fisheries in South Africa (Report).
Interview Questions General Questions
Hoe het die rolle tot beskikking van vroue in die visserysektor oor die jare verander? Meer onlangs het Suid-Afrika se kleinskaalse visserybeleid die betekenis van "visserman" verander om verskeie rolle in die visbedryf in te sluit. Gee die rolle in die visbedryf vroulike agentskap of gesag in die besluitnemingsproses rondom toegang tot hulpbronne.
Is daar hindernisse wat jou verhoed om die rolle te verrig wat jy in die vissery wil verrig? Wat is die dinge/mense wat jou gehelp het om in die nuwe rolle te wees wat jy in visvang wil doen. Hoe het die rolle tot beskikking van vroue in die visserysektor oor die jare verander?
Onlangs het Suid-Afrika se kleinskaalse visserybeleid die betekenis van "visserman" verander om meer rolle in die visbedryf in te sluit. 7. Gee rolle in die agentskap of gesag van vroue in die visbedryf in die besluitnemingsproses oor toegang tot hulpbronne.
Original Afrikaans Answers
