 Small scale fisheries are vital to millions of people along the coasts of Asia, Latin America and West Africa, where delicate ecosystems such as mangroves provide food and income to myriad small communities. In such communities, women often work long hours to support their families, harvesting shellfish, processing fish and other sea creatures, and selling these products in local markets, often while also juggling care responsibilities for family members. Her job as a shellfish harvester provides her family with food and pays for basic expenses. The FAO Coastal Fisheries Initiative is at the women's side in a number of ways, providing technology to reduce health hazards and environmental impact, facilitating access to micro-credit so the women can invest in their businesses, holding workshops to improve sanitary conditions and share new skills than fostering their role as decision makers. Since March, there has been good production. We have four shellfish harvests that are very important, because we are at conservation, because that is the only thing that remains. We have really accumulated a lot of disease using traditional food. I would do it by myself, and I will also show you what we have learned. We have a lot of things, we go and see the microfinances. They have also taught us how to manage, how to finance to receive. You have to give to receive. Women in coastal fisheries work tirelessly in a crisis sector with scarce resources and risky conditions. Their heavy workload is underestimated and underpaid, without recognition at fair value of their central role in the post-harvest sector. They also face limited access to decision-making venues, to financing and to capacity building. SAFE is working to change that. Empowering women in fisheries value chains, plus sustainable mangrove management, plus an ecosystem approach to fisheries that lets organisms replenish themselves and nature do its job, equals thriving coastal communities.