From the beginning of professional fisheries science, women have been integral to the discipline. A well-researched summary of the contributions of these “Mothers of Fishes” was put together by Murphy and others for the 150th Anniversary of the American Fisheries Society (AFS). The AFS has many examples of how women have contributed to our field and the progress that has been made over time. There have been various achievements by women in the field, and within AFS, as far back as 1927 when Emmeline Moore was elected the first woman president of AFS. This continues today with April Croxton currently serving as AFS president, Leanne Roulson serving in 2022, and Jesse Trushenski in 2019. Unfortunately, women in leadership have been rare historically as evident by the cover on the very first Fisheries magazine in 1976. Jumping forward to 2020, the cover showing current and former presidents shows improvement, but there is still work to be done to ensure women (and notably people of color) are represented in the field. Several initiatives have been put in place through AFS to recruit and retain underrepresented groups through the Equal Opportunity Section and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. 

Personally, I have had a successful career in the field (20+ years) and have also had very positive experiences within AFS, serving as a Florida chapter president, co-chairing the 2017 annual meeting in Tampa, participating in the Climate Fellows program, and currently serving on the Communication and Climate Change Committees. So the question becomes: “What can I do to empower others as a woman who has had success in the field?” 

This is the story of how an idea evolved into a concrete way to support women in fisheries science by communicating shared experiences, providing internal support, communicating issues and solutions to the broader fisheries field, and advocating for awareness and action. 

Shared experiences and support 

The Women of Fisheries story begins in 2017. At the AFS annual meeting in Tampa, Janice Kerns organized an impromptu lunch meeting for women in fisheries. The conversations that ensued were meaningful and supportive, and there was a realization that many women had shared experiences, which were especially valuable for those without women mentors or role models. During the same meeting, I was also running around as meeting co-chair with a 2 month old in a sling, as was Chelsey Crandall, who served as the meeting coordinator for child care and a dedicated mother’s room. We would not have been able to perform our duties for AFS during that meeting without those services. We heard from others who took advantage of the child care option, including couples that were both in the fisheries field that would have had to split their time (or not attend) otherwise. Following the meeting, Chelsey reached out to me and Janice about starting a virtual discussion group for women in fisheries science. On July 28, 2018, we created a safe space (through a Facebook private group) for women to communicate with each other about topics and provide advice to each other. It started with sharing experiences that were common across geography and disciplines within fisheries and blossomed into a wonderful way for “fish sisters” to support each other. These virtual discussions were genuine and sometimes colorful but always respectful and productive!

At the joint AFS/Wildlife Society (TWS) meeting in Reno in 2019, we coordinated an in-person meetup at the Women of Wildlife’s social and put faces to names from the private group. At this point, we also realized that to truly bring shared experiences to the attention of the broader fisheries community, we needed to communicate common struggles beyond the private group. For example, I traveled to this meeting with my husband (also in fisheries) counting on child care for our two boys, which was sadly canceled at the last minute.  My husband and I were able to switch off between conference and parenting roles, but neither of us got the full conference experience we were expecting. The importance of things like child care options are meaningful not only for women in fisheries, but for all parents.

Communicating issues and solutions

Our next steps were to start outward facing initiatives and to bring these conversations to allies. In January of 2020, we attained non-profit status, designated officers and a Board, and had a lot of momentum… and then COVID hit. Fortunately we already had an active online community and launched a website in October of that year, followed by blog posts and a mailing list available to anyone. In January 2021, a social media committee was formed to help engage the private group and help with blog posts. 

Blog posts include profiles on women in the fisheries field, lovingly called “Fish Sister Profiles.” “Fish sister” was coined by Jesse Truschenski who was our first profile. “Research Highlights” written by Kim Bonvechio, also the Women of Fisheries Secretary/Treasurer, promote newly published research by women in fisheries. Discussion posts broadly summarize some of the more engaging discussions within the private group to inform allies of shared experiences and common issues women face, like one of our most read posts, “OK but where do I pee?” Finally, the social media committee puts together posts on resources such as this excellent post by Heather Moncrief-Cox summarizing where to find fisheries jobs. Some of these posts have been shared in the publication Fisheries magazine. Continued outreach has included working with allies to publish an essay in Fisheries on “How to be an ally to women in fisheries science” and doing an interview for the Fisheries Podcast.

Action!

Beyond communicating issues and experiences, we also wanted to support women in fisheries in a more concrete way, so in 2020 when everyone was doing everything virtually, we started the annual fisHER Adventure Classic, a choose-your-own adventure fundraiser. Funds from this event support the Women of Fisheries Gives Back! Award for early career professionals. To date, we have been able to support four deserving early career professionals in 2022 and 2023 and are in the process of planning for this year’s event!

5 years strong

That brings us to where we are now in July 2023 as we celebrate 5 years of Women of Fisheries. This journey has led to connecting, supporting, and amplifying the experiences of over 1,800 women in fisheries science in over 40 countries. We have made progress in communicating issues and solutions to allies, but more work can be done to promote awareness of issues and recommend actions to support women. We appreciate our allies who read and share our blog posts, participate in the fisHER Adventure Classic, and serve as mentors to their women colleagues. We also recognize the need to address intersectionality and aspire to do a better job of intentionally serving and amplifying the voices of women facing additional challenges in fisheries science.

We have learned a lot over the past 5 years, and we look forward to continuing to connect with our community by increasing visibility, diversity, and inclusivity, soliciting and strengthening partnerships, and hosting continuing education webinars, meet-ups and retreats. Stay tuned! 

Cheers to you, Fish Sisters and Allies!