Women Fisherfolk Want to Start a Cooperative

One of the major events of the two-day Women in Fisheries Forum in Hopkins was the endorsement of Paula Jacobs-Williams of Punta Negra as President for the next two years. She told News Five that she intends to lobby on behalf of all the women fisherfolk, primarily where they face difficulty in marketing their catch. Interestingly, the number of licensed commercial women fisherfolk across Belize account for only three percent of the total number of fisherfolks in the country. But women who are engaged in fisheries-related activities play a big role within the sector. And these roles that women engage in play a huge part in the communities where they live, according to the Assistant Country Director of Marine at Wildlife Conservation Society, Ralnah Lamb-Lewis.

 

Ralnah Lamb-Lewis, Assistant Country Director, Marine at Willdlife Conservation Society

“You have a lot of women who are involved in processing. If you go to the cooperative, if you go to the fish markets within the coastal communities, and then you have the women who basically are involved in preparing the trips, managing the finances. So all of that additional activities the value added part. Those involved in seaweed.”

 

Marion Ali

“You’re looking for better markets?”

 

Paula Jacobs-Williams, President, Women in Fisheries Association

“Marketing and then packaging and stuff like that. So we could like, join, like what I say, like a coop, so each of us could start a pack and we could sell like what you call import and export because we could make some – like for example, we have – in Punta Negra we have the lake, we have freshwater fish some people go for the fresh water and some want the salt water.”

 

 

 

Marion Ali

“Is it only fish that you do?”

 

Paula Jacobs-Williams

“We do fish, we do conchs, we do lobster, shrimps all the others, and then we could always package it.”