Trading fish for sex in sub-Saharan Africa

Many women in developing countries earn a living from small-scale fisheries activities, especially from processing and trading fish. But in Africa, there have been increasing reports of male fishers exchanging fish for sex with female traders.

Fish-for-sex (FFS) refers to the practice inwhich female fish traders engage in sexual relationships with male fishers tosecure their supply of fish. Until recently, this practice has not been widelydocumented. Research from the WorldFish Center, andthe University of Basel, in Switzerland, analyses FFS, with reference to thewider literature on transactional sex, and gender and HIV/AIDS in fisheries.

The researchers use the example of a small-scalefishing community in the Kafue flats region of Zambia,and review other cases in the world. They demonstrate how economic impoverishment, which isoften put forward to explain FFS transactions, is too simplistic to capture thecomplexity of the FFS phenomenon.

FFS is also often – but wrongly – compared withprostitution. Women who engage in FFS are subject to stigmatisation andmarginalisation in their communities, reinforcing their already precariouseconomic and social situation.   

The researchers reviewed global research on FFS:

• FFS occurs throughout the developing world; the highestnumber of cases has been observed in sub-Saharan Africa, with 84 percent ofcases reported in eastern and southern Africa.
• Most FFS occurs inland, particularly in lake fisheries.
• A large proportion of the women whoengage in FFS are widows, divorced or single women, re-emphasisingthe relatively high vulnerability of this group to poverty.
• Not all womenengaging in FFS are ‘victims’; some take an active, albeit unequal, part in thetransaction.
• Sometimes, malefishers pressurise female traders into FFS by refusing to sell fish without sex.

At national or local levels, a legal ban on FFSwould be difficult to implement, due to the lack of alternatives for the womeninvolved. A more appropriate approach would be to reduce stigma and socialexclusion, which arise from the connections between FFS and HIV and AIDS. Effectiveprevention campaigns must:

• recognise the unequal relationships between men andwomen in the fisheries sector
• train non-governmental organisations, fisheries departments,health care institutions and other public health staff to deal with FFS issues
• build on existing programmes for preventing sexuallytransmitted infections in the fisheries sector
• address the root causes of vulnerability, particularlyfor female headed households, and provide women with alternatives to FFS, forexample through training, rural finance and support groups
• work closely with fishermen to change or influence theirbehaviour and attitudes regarding multiple sexual partners.