ABSTRACT
Aquaculture is growing at a global average annual rate of almost 6 percent, producing 66.6 million tonnes of food fish in 2012, while food fish from capture fisheries remains stagnant at around 90 million tonnes. Thanks largely to aquaculture’s contribution to the food fish supply, global per capita fish consumption has doubled since the 1960s. Fish now represent 16.7 percent of the world’s total animal protein supply: they provide 2.9 billion people with 20 percent of their animal protein intake, and 4.3 billion people with 15 percent of their animal protein intake. Aquaculture contributes to the livelihoods of nearly 19 million people globally, 84 percent of whom are in Asia (FAO 2014). With all of this growth, little has been done to understand the position of women in these emerging value chains and channel the development of the chains in a gender-equitable manner. In a country like Sri Lanka, where aquaculture has major potential yet remains significantly underdeveloped, there may be a greater opportunity to mainstream gender.
