Future of Fish Helps Peru’s Small-Scale Fisheries Acquire PPE to Stay Afloat in Pandemic
By Julie Budkowski, Operations Director, Future of Fish
Pedro, a fisherman and youth leader in La Islila, Peru, carries boxes of donated soap to support the health of his fellow fishermen. Photo credit: Future of Fish.
Fishers are essential workers, but what happens when they don’t have the gear they need to work safely in a pandemic?
In Peru, small-scale fisheries play a critical role in food security, supplying approximately 95% of the seafood consumed domestically. But without personal protective equipment (PPE), even essential work such as fishing becomes too high risk, leaving communities without food or fishers risking their own health or livelihood. Sourcing the PPE and sanitation resources needed for businesses to open safely has been difficult in the developed world, and even harder in countries like Peru, where it is urgently needed and for many small-scale fishers and market vendors, nearly impossible to find.
The need for PPE is especially acute in Peru’s small fishing villages like La Islilla, where limited medical infrastructure, dirt road access and no running water means that the spread of COVID-19 would be catastrophic. La Islila is a small town on Peru’s north coast that was settled by fishermen back in the 1800s. It is a tight-knit community of 300 fishing families who use traditional fishing techniques to supply fish for both domestic and international markets.
