Fisherwoman Making Waves to Protect Madagascar’s Coastal Resources
On this World Fisheries Day find out how USAID is supporting fishers
Before the sun has a chance to grace the west coast of Madagascar with its morning gaze, the sandy white beaches of Belo-sur-Mer are already bustling with activity. Pale blue waters are lined with dozens of small, wood carved fishing boats sporting colorful sails being prepped for a morning at sea. And women whose faces are painted with masonjoany — a traditional sunscreen made from tree bark — are wading into the shallow waters to harvest seaweed.
The Western Indian Ocean nation is the fourth largest island in the world, and boasts 3,000 miles of coastline and impressive marine and coral biodiversity with 66 percent of marine species endemic to their waters. In addition to this breadth of biodiversity, the ocean is an important source of livelihoods for over two million people living in coastal communities, with the marine sector contributing 7 percent to Madagascar’s economy.
Historically, the fisheries sector has been dominated by men, who normally perform the more lucrative jobs in the industry, and form community fishing associations composed of fellow male fishers, leaving women out of conversations concerning the future of the sector.
But one local fisherwoman is on a mission to change the culture. Victorine Tafara is a 59-year-old fisher and algae farmer.
“I raised my five children on my own through fishing, without any other source of income,” Victorine states with pride.
Against the grain of cultural norms, Victorine decided she was better off on her own after unsuccessful marriages. She is now the head of her household and has become one of the few female leaders in the fishing industry in Belo-Sur-Mer, a village on Madagascar’s west coast.
In 2020, Victorine attended a leadership training organized by USAID through Hay Tao (‘know how’ in Malagasy), a five-year project working towards effective community-based management and protection of biodiversity resources in Madagascar.
The project empowers local communities to lead management of their natural resources to achieve effective, lasting community-based conservation of biodiversity. To date, more than 750 individuals have been trained on community-based natural resource management practices through Hay Tao supported initiatives, including 30 women during the FisherWomen Leadership Program, which proved to be a pivotal experience for Victorine. She credits this training with giving her the confidence, knowledge, and motivation to become a leader in her community.
“The training gave me the idea to create an association for fisherwomen — Ampela mpanjono miavaka,” she says. Since its inception, Ampela mpanjono miavaka (“distinguished fisherwomen” in Malagasy) has grown to 67 members, all from the Belo-sur-Mer fishing community.
“The training helped me to gather and motivate many women,” she adds. “I often tell them that we must not be shy. We must make our voices heard during community meetings. We must dare to speak.”
In Madagascar, most meetings, both formal and informal, are led by men, particularly in rural areas. But the tide is turning, and women like Victorine are working to even the playing field for fisherwomen.
Victorine motivates her peers to take more responsibility and speak up about the fisheries sector: “Men and women, we are all equal. Leadership is no longer the prerogative of men. That time is over,” she says. “We all work to ensure the income of our households. Women should work and not wait for their husbands to earn money. Everything men do, women can do.”
In addition to building the confidence and public speaking skills of the members of the fisherwomen’s association, Victorine also teaches the members about natural resource management and threats to the fisheries and coastal biodiversity. She provides her members technical information in an easy-to-understand manner on the proper use of environmentally sustainable fishing materials and mangrove reforestation — information women did not have access to in the past.
Access to information is especially important now that populations of crabs and sea cucumbers around Belo-sur-Mer have started to dwindle. Last year, a cyclone destroyed nearby mangrove forests, wiping out the preferred habitat of these lucrative marine species. Due to the scarcity of product and sales price increases, fisherpeople resorted to overfishing, depleting populations even further.
“I used to easily fill two large bags with crabs. Now they are scarce,” Victorine reports.
Using the technical and leadership skills developed through USAID-supported training, Victorine switched to sustainable production of seaweed as her main income and taught the women in her association these environmental conservation practices.
She now sells algae to private sector firms committed to sustainable seaweed production in Madagascar, who then export the product to Europe. She is also committed to restoring the local mangroves — she plants seedlings in order to ensure crab and other species will flourish again in the future.
“The women in my association and I are proud to be able to reforest mangroves,” Victorine says, underscoring her commitment to preserving the natural environment that provides her and her female fishing community with their livelihoods as well as their commitment to leading for positive change in the fisheries sector.
About the Authors
Liz Toomey is a Program and Communications Specialist with the Sustainable Environment and Economic Development Office of USAID’s Mission in Madagascar; Mihary Randrianarivelo is a Communications Officer for USAID Hay Tao; and Becky Band Jane is the Integrated Communications Officer for PACT.
