Tell us more about the challenge of the project.What is the problem you are trying to solve? Why is the problem significant?

Fishing women are often invisibilized and neglected, despite the fact that they are PRESENT and fundamental in the fish production chain. Fishing women are involved in catching, processing and selling the fish, and in maintaining and operating fishing equipment, whether it's a boat, an engine or a net. In addition, they play an important role in passing on the culture and maintaining the link between new generations and the activity, and are increasingly taking on a leading role in groups, movements and associations working for the rights of the peoples of the sea. However, climate change disproportionately affects the most vulnerable groups: the elderly, children, blacks, women and other marginalized groups. Among them, and cross-sectionally, are women fishermen.

The VOICES FROM THE SEA project therefore aims to join forces with the actions of the network of women fishermen. Among these actions is the organization of conversation circles. It is in conversation circles that the organization of fisherwomen has been taking place along the Brazilian coast. Face-to-face, participatory formats enable political organization based on relationships of trust, while also enriching the expression of each of those present. We also plan to include in the events more researchers in the areas of fishing and gender, with an emphasis on the intersectionality of the themes, and female fishing leaders from all of Brazil's coastal regions.

Tell us more about the proposed solution of the project.How will it work?

The VOICES OF THE SEA project, awarded by the British Council in 2019, aimed to facilitate the connection between networks of women involved in coastal artisanal fishing in Brazil. The project sought to strengthen their voices in discussions about fishing, gender and the climate emergency. After online connections in 2019 and 2020, the proposal for a VOZES DO MAR em roda, 2025 edition, proposes holding a national face-to-face event to provide continuity and impetus to the joint construction of the network.

The event aims to revive exchanges between fisherwomen, thus strengthening a national network. It is proposed to create a space for women fishermen to share experiences, discuss measures and strategies to deal with the impacts of climate change on fishing activity. This meeting is essential to consolidate the national network, promoting unity around common objectives: fighting the climate emergency and tackling gender inequality in fishing.

The VOZES DO MAR face-to-face events will have a direct impact on the formation of the national network of women fishermen. In addition, the regional events will be a reunion celebration for some of the fisherwomen and researchers involved in the project since its inception. These face-to-face meetings will strengthen ties, promoting an effective exchange of knowledge and experiences, thus contributing to the construction of more robust strategies to face the challenges imposed by climate change on artisanal fishing.

What will be the main activities of the project and how will the resources be applied?

The VOICES OF THE SEA project aims to facilitate the networking of women in coastal artisanal fishing in Brazil, through various formats: interviews, network analysis, online meetings and artistic products.

Involving fisherwomen from the project's conception, initially remotely and asynchronously, VOZES DO MAR sought to identify some of the demands made by fisherwomen. Among the initial products already available on the site, which aim to serve fisherwomen, are: a repository of links on climate change, woodcuts of artisanal fishing and a mini-documentary in production.

However, a demand that was raised at the time, and is still pending, is for more participatory face-to-face events, such as conversation circles, which bring together fisherwomen from different regions. At the time of the end of the pandemic and also due to limited resources, this was a demand that the project has not yet been able to meet.

It became clear, however, that the demand for regional face-to-face events is extremely necessary in order to establish relationships of trust, exchanges of knowledge, political organization and potential partnerships, and build a network of articulation on a national scale. This demand came from the fisherwomen to the researchers. Accustomed in their traditional cultures to talking in circles, transmitting knowledge orally and organizing themselves politically, face-to-face events make it easier for them to express themselves more horizontally.

We are asking for financial support to ensure the success of a face-to-face, national event, including logistics, infrastructure, transportation and support materials. Contributing to this meeting means investing in the empowerment of fisherwomen, in the co-production of joint scientific and traditional knowledge, in the promotion of sustainability in artisanal fishing and in building a collective response to the climate emergency, recognizing and amplifying the voices that have been neglected for too long.

We want to understand the challenges these women face in dealing with gender bias and the cumulative impact of climate change on fishing activity, and how we can act collaboratively to find better ways forward.

VOICES FROM THE SEA aims to amplify the voices of fisherwomen in spaces for discussion on fishing, gender and the fight against the climate emergency, or to bring their voices into spaces that have not been occupied before. To this end, events with more horizontal formats, strategically planned in spaces and locations where they do not take place with a gender lens, will give them greater visibility and, most importantly, the possibility of bottom-up political organization and exchanges of knowledge between communities.

By working together with women, the VOICES OF THE SEA project supports one of the groups most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and seeks to create a path for the inclusion of this public in future discussions with government and science that can support and debate solutions to current and future challenges.

In this context, VOZES DO MAR's face-to-face events contribute to the objectives of the Decade of the Ocean, at international level, and strengthen, at national level, the participation of the most vulnerable in the progress of the Law of the Sea and Marine Spatial Planning (PEM) and in the management of marine and coastal protected areas.