The Women in Fisheries Network-Fiji (WiFN-Fiji) identified the need to conduct a national stock take of the institutional and enabling mechanisms that support gender in fisheries.

This process was a key recommendation from a report conducted in 2014 looking at the Status of Women in Fisheries in Fiji  and identifying the need for a thorough institutional mapping of the fisheries sector across key stakeholders.

In particular, conducting an inventory of sex disaggregated data that relates to women who directly live on, derive a livelihood and benefit from marine resources to those who are remotely based, including urban/rural dwellers who have a role to play in the management, the harvesting, selling and processing of marine resources in Fiji.

Analysis and assessments were conducted from 11-29 June 2018 through stakeholder interviews, questionnaires and surveys with the aim to provide the following:

(i) An institutional mapping of the fisheries sector by functions, data sets, availability, system used and partnership type – summary;
(ii) A gap analysis across the sector; and
(iii) Strategic and operational recommendations for WIFN-Fiji.

The data landscape relating to women who are directly and indirectly involved in fisheries activities is extremely diverse and scattered across sectors and stakeholders. It is imperative to look at using
existing data sets already available on women per se and the numerous data gathering initiatives that can improve our understanding of the activities of women at a national level.

However, it is clear that there is a need for consolidation and streamlining of existing initiatives to ensure efficiency and coordination of efforts to minimise duplication.