Petty Harbour program spawns spinoff in Japan

A marine fisheries researcher and former Girls Who Fish participant is launching a sister version of the Petty Harbour program in Japan.

Girls Who Fish is ayear-round, biweekly program that teaches women and girls how to fish and empowers them to consider a career on the water.

"In Japan we don't have many programs that [are]dedicated to women and girls, so that's the first thing that I felt when I joined this program," said Yinji Li, an associate professor at Tokai University.

Li spent a year on sabbatical in Newfoundland in 2019 after meeting a local program organizerat a small-scale fisheries conference in Thailand the year prior, she said.

Skills and community building

Li and her daughter Ami, 9, took part in Girls Who Fish when they were in the province.

"And I thought, we need one in Japan," she said of her experience.

"What girls and women learn from the program is not only about the fishery but about the community," said Li. "The women get together, communicate with each other as a team."

Girls Who Fish is run by Fishing for Success, a Petty Harbour non-profit focused on passing down Newfoundland and Labrador fishing culture and traditions.

'Both programs are going to grow'

Executive director Kimberly Orren says the non-profit developed Girls Who Fish after noticing gender-specific barriers in other programming.

"Itprovides a support network for the women who get involved in it because it's an intergenerational program," she said.

There's an opportunity to further strengthen that community with volunteer work and service learning, which can lead to satisfaction and mental-health healing, she said.

Orren has been helping Li develop the Japanese version, which will be led by Too Big to Ignore Japan, the Mochimunebranch of the Shimizu Fisheries Cooperative and Tokai University.

"Both programs are going to grow because cultural learning is going to deepen and we're going to learn from each other's programs," Orren said.

Depending on COVID-19 and vaccination rates, Li is hoping to launch Girls Who Fish Japan in September.

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