Fisher Women Find Opportunities to Preserve the Coastal Environment and Face the Challenges

Abstract

Coastal environment is a complex term in relation to definition, context, and importance. Fisher women do not get recognition and importance in the social realm. This study was conducted with aims to explore the role of fisher women in preserving coastal environment and what challenges they face. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used in this study. Direct engagement of women in coastal fishing is hard to find, but the indirect involvement of women is remarkable. They are involved in multiple tasks, including fish drying, cleaning, sorting, storage, packing, net maintenance, grading, and collection. Several livelihood activities get narrowed, and fisher women suffer more. They face several problems and live with disasters in the coastal environment. The poor fisher women often settle in the risky areas. Fishing activities are often low-income, but they stopped different livelihood activities for environmental shocks. They initiated new livelihood options switching from fishing.