With the training, women will be able to participate in the phase of the counting of the individuals, which precedes the fishing in the lakes, until then, performed by men.
By Raqueline Nery, Quilvilene Cunha and Ana Carla Rodrigues
Associação das Mulheres Agroextrativistas do Médio Juruá (ASMAMJ) in partnership with Instituto Juruá, carried out on November 5th. and 6th. the I Workshop of Arapaima Counting Only for Mid-Juruá Women, in the community of Xibauazinho. 41 women from the communities of Novo Horizonte, Imperatriz, Barreira do Idó, São Raimundo, Morada Nova, Toari, Xibauá, Vila Medeiros e Xibauazinho were present at the event. Four indigenous women from Aldeia Bauana and two from the Community of São Brás, Municipality of Itamarati also participated in the event.
The process of mobilization for the Workshop took place through the invitation made during the ASMAMJ Assembly, with the enrolment of the participants, and via radio to the communities which were not present at the Assembly. The boat departed from the center of the municipality and stopped at the local communities, taking the participants to the Workshop place, in total of 48 hour-trip and covering 450km by boat.
The counting workshop is a demand of the women in Mid-Juruá which was developed along the Strategic Planning of the Association in the General Assembly in 2019. And thanks to the partnership made with Instituto Juruá, the Association received a financial donation to pay for 100% of the Workshop costs, and during the project days we could count on the support of the Institute crew.
The aim was the women empowerment in the chain of the Arapaima management, assuring autonomy, gender equality and income generation for women. This project was a milestone for the Amazon Region, because the Arapaima chain has always been marked by male presence and influence and, due to the workshop, Mid-Juruá women were trained to increase and have autonomy in more than one of the processes of management: the counting of individuals which precedes the fishing.
The workshop was divided into three stages, day one with theoretical methodology about counting, followed by a practical class for the analyses of the environments inhabited by the Arapaima. The project came to an end with the participants´ evaluation and certification.. The Workshop has been extremely successful, because through evaluation, most of the women had excellent approval grades. Due to the great success of the workshop, ASMAMJ intends to replicate this project in other communities which are involved with management in all of the Amazon Region, extending the female participation into the Arapaima management.
