Women and Fishery

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There is a lake in Lingi village of Ghatanji block. A few years ago, the lake was handed over to a fishing contractor by the Gram Panchayat. The FES organization brought together all the women of Lingi village and gave them complete information about the PESA Act. Based on this information, the women prepared a SOP and handed it over to the Gram Panchayat and a copy to the Tehsil, Panchayat Samiti, Integrated Tribal Development Department. Taking note of their SOP, the lake was handed over to the women. The women then released the fish seeds under the guidance of the FES organisation and managed it by making different bylaws. They made a profit of at least Rs 1 lakh this year after deducting all expenses.
Prior to all this, the Gram Panchayat and other men in the village had protested that women would not be able to bear all this, only men can do business like fishing, it is very difficult to manage and if there is a loss, women cannot bear it. They set up her own fishing committee for management in the Lingi village, as well as some women from Chincholi and Chandapur villages in the gram panchayat. After seeing their efforts, the youth circles of the village helped the women a lot.

[Purnendu Kavoori]

This is a very interesting comment on women and fishery. In coastal areas the fishing work seems to be widely divided between men and women in a way that the men are the fishers and the women handle everything after the catch lands. The marketing and business side is handled completely by women. If I am not wrong the example you have given is that of inland fishery. So here also the role of women is coming out strongly. As far as know there is not much being discussed on women and inland fishing practices. Perhaps because the scale is small and scattered it is not considered important enough for discussion. I wonder if there is information on this from other parts of the country. One of the problems with small scale fishing is that of ‘reproduction’, i.e how to make sure that the system is sustainable. Commercial contracts can sometimes be destructive and the system collapses. Does women’s involvement have some kind of positive role in ensuring that the reproduction of the resource is maintained. What are the institutions and practices that produce such result. There is a lot to be searched for and compared between different parts of the country.

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