Bremen-based NGO fair oceans and Brot für die Welt are organising a discussion at Bremen's Überseemuseum on Friday, 7 March, to mark the ‘End of Fish Day’. Prof. Dr Achim Schlüter from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) will also be taking part in the event.
The ‘End of Fish Day’ is the day on which Germany has mathematically used up its own reserves of fish and seafood. This year, the date falls on 8 March, which is also International Women's Day. For this reason, the organisers are making the situation of women in the fishing industry the central topic of this year's panel discussion and are drawing a line from the North Sea to the coast of West Africa.
Achim Schlüter from ZMT has been studying small-scale fisheries and fish processing in West African countries such as Senegal and Mauritania for a long time. He will give an insight into the role of women in these countries, who often feed their families by drying and processing the catches into fishmeal.
Participants in the discussion:
Bettina Adam | Fischereibetrieb Adam in Friedrichskoog,
Cornelia Wilß | Fair Oceans,
Prof. Dr. Achim Schlüter | AG Institutions and Behavioural Economics | Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT)
Moderation: Kai Kaschinski, Fair Oceans
When: 7 March, 19:00 to 21:00
Where: Überseemuseum Bremen
Registration with fair oceans at:
The event will be hybrid. When registering, please indicate whether you participate on-site or if a Zoom link is required.
Further information from the organisers:
The role of women in the fishing industry is continually underestimated. Behind the images of sea-tanned men on their fishing boats, the women employed in the fishing industry generally disappear. They often go unmentioned and receive little public attention. In fact, their work is neither less important for maintaining the supply of fishery products, nor is it less challenging in many places. In fact, most women work in processing and trade, but to reduce the fishing industry to fishing alone falls far short of the mark. Anyone who has ever seen women on the assembly lines of the fish factories in Bremerhaven, at the processing sites in Senegal or their tireless efforts for the family business will have an idea of how hard the women have to work.
Furthermore, in many respects it is women in particular who, in addition to their work, have to secure the everyday and social life of local coastal communities, small businesses and their families. In small-scale fishing, the 45 million women working in the various sectors and in all areas of their work make up 40 per cent of the global workforce. The panel discussion is intended to provide a better insight into the working conditions of these women and their significance for food security and fisheries policy. Among other things, the panellists will discuss how the increasingly problematic ecological state of the oceans and seas is threatening their livelihoods and what steps need to be taken to improve the situation of women in the fishing industry.
Fish processing in Mauretania | Photo: Achim Schlüter
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