ABSTRACT
In the UK, small-scale vessels (those under ten metres) make up approximately 80% of the fishing fleet yet receive only 4% of the national fishing quota. By failing to prioritise this sector, it is widely established that the UK has left families and communities that depend upon it vulnerable. Yet there is little recognition and understanding of women’s roles in small-scale fishing families in the UK. Even less is known about how these roles are changing as women work to help their (family) businesses adapt and survive. To respond to this gap in knowledge, this research project aims to understand how women contribute to sustaining small-scale fishing businesses in responding to financial pressures in the small-scale fishing sector – through both their fishing and non-fishing work, and how this is linked with their identities and sense of wellbeing. Furthermore, this project has direct policy implications as UK governments will be reviewing their fishing policies in light of leaving the EU. During this process they will be making decisions about what type of fishery – and whom within it – should be supported. Through undertaking extensive in-depth interviews with women in small-scale fishing families of the UK, as well as establishing a network of UK women in fisheries, the project will seek to understand how women can be better supported in a post-Brexit fishing world to ensure better gender equality within the small-scale fishing sector of the UK.