From the Editor
Greetings from ICSF! This is also a good opportunity to wish all of you the very best for 2001.
In this issue of Yemaya we have, as before, write-ups from several countries. It is significant that an important theme in many of them is the need to protect and manage resources, and the role of women in this. Margaret Nakato from Uganda writes that their women’s group wants to protect the resources in Lake Victoria by taking on the motherly role of nurturing’. To reduce the pressure on the lake, their group is emphasizing sustainable fishing practices and is trying to diversify into other activities to reduce the pressure on the lake.
From Sri Lanka, we read of other women who are at the forefront of efforts to form a committee for the management of the lake on which depends their livelihood. Members of the Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association (PIFWA), Malaysia write of their efforts to regenerate mangroves.
The message from the compilation of issues put together by women fishworkers from several countries around the world is no different. This was in preparation for the Constituent Assembly of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF) held from 2 to 6 October 2000 in Loctudy, France. The document emphasizes the need to reclaim priority access right to resources for coastal communities as well as the need to promote co-management of fisheries for the sustainable use of resources. It brings together the dimensions of both the rights and responsibilities of coastal communities.
What is also significant is that this document emphasizes the importance of a community approach to fisheries management, that takes on board the concerns and roles of both men and women of fishing communities. We also carry a resolution signed by women of several countries, stating their will to work together towards common objectives. This resolution was signed after the meeting at Loctudy ended in the formation of not one, but two forums representing small-scale fishworkers.
We also carry letters from our readers. There is, as well, information about a video film, made from an ethnographic perspective, that focuses on the efforts of a women’s group in Chile to take up mollusc culture.
In this issue we have included, where available, the e-mail addresses of the people who have written for Yemaya, for those of you who may wish to correspond directly with each other. We will bring out the next issue of Yemaya in March 2001. Do send us your write-ups by February 2001. We also look forward to responses to the letters we carry in this issue.
