Stakeholders in the fishing industry are attending a workshop at Novotel in Lami to address the issue of ‘Gender Mainstreaming in Offshore Fisheries’.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Project Manager Seremaia Tuqiri said the workshop, which was funded by New Zealand Aid (NZAID) was focused on how more women could be recruited into the offshore fisheries sector.
“With development donor agencies, they look at gender inclusion when providing funding for these projects and organizations and this is one aspect we are looking in the offshore fisheries sector,” Mr Tuqiri said.
“The fisheries sector is not just a male domain; women contribute a lot, particularly so in the inshore and coastal fisheries sector for their daily sustenance.”
Mr Tuqiri said the workshop served to “ask stakeholders whether offshore fishing was a safe space for women to work in or are they better off in management inshore positions”.
The workshop is attended by officials from the Ministry of Fisheries, Fishing Industries Association and Fiji Maritime Academy.
