TY  - BOOK
AU  - Dayaratne P.
AU  - Chinivasagam, Nalini
TI  - Role of Women in Fishing Industry
CY  - Colombo
PB  - NARA
N2  - Fishing industry in Sri Lanka has been in existence from time 
immemmorial. The mechanization of the fishing industry in early 
1960’s followed by other development programmes brought many 
changes to this industry. However some of the traditional crafts 
and gear are still in use in some areas. Traditionally, women 
were involved either directly or indirectly in this industry 
throughout the history. Although some of the traditional 
activities of women in fishing or related industries have been 
replaced by more modern techniques the involvement of women 
remain almost unaltered due to. the opportunities created by such 
developments compensating for the loss of opportunities in 
traditional fishing caused by such developments.
The socio-economic aspect . of women in Sri Lanka is as in all 
south east Asian Countries. This is more for women belonging to 
the lower income groups where they are more or less a neglected 
sector of the population. In observing the condition in the 
fishing industry this situation in evident mainly due to the
1
difficult and dangerous situations encountered by their spouses 
or the supporting males in the family. Fisherman live in 
communities close to the sea.. They earn their >lively hood by 
fishing or carrying out other related work relevant to this 
industry. Women play a. major role in these communities, where 
they support the males in their family in fishing, traditional 
processing and even marketing. Most of these fisher families are 
controlled by a middleman who earn a much larger sum than the 
fisherman who actually harvest the fish.This situation results in 
the actual fisherman receiving only a meagre sum, but is always 
dependent on the middleman who funds his fishing & living 
expenses ,(etc.). Thus this situation creates a necessity for 
women to support the males in these activities
ER  -