Over 50 percent of coastal fisheries users and more than 90 percent of freshwater resource users are women, highlighting the critical role women fishers play in food security, income generation and community wellbeing.
Women in Fisheries Network Fiji Coordinator Adi Alani Tuivucilevu told fijivillage News that this reliance has driven the revival of a women-led, membership-based fisheries organisation, first established in 1992 and re-registered nationally in 2017 to restore much-needed support for women who fish for both livelihood and household consumption.
Adi Alani says a gender analysis by the Ministry of Women confirmed what communities already knew—that women are the backbone of coastal and freshwater fisheries.
She says the organisation supports women fishers through targeted programs, including financial literacy training, value chain strengthening and economic empowerment initiatives.
Adi also stated that with new five-year funding through Global Affairs Canada’s Women Power Project with Oxfam in the Pacific, the group aims to address long-standing challenges such as the heavy burden of unpaid care work, which limits women’s economic participation and is worsened by climate change impacts like stronger cyclones and changing ocean conditions.
Insert: Adi Alani on women 17th Jan 26
She adds while the organisation has not received direct government funding and relies mainly on international donors, it continues to work closely with the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Women.
Adi Alani adds sustained support is vital, describing women fishers as mothers and carers of society, stressing that supporting them ultimately strengthens families, communities and future generations.
