A recent report released by the Undersecretariat for Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca), in collaboration with Sernapesca and Indespa, shows a continued increase in female participation across Chile’s fishing and aquaculture sectors during 2025. The 19th edition of the report, titled “Women and Men in the Fishing and Aquaculture Sectors of Chile,” highlights both quantitative and qualitative progress, including new testimonies from women entrepreneurs in artisanal fishing and an analysis of female involvement in Maritime Coastal Spaces for Indigenous Peoples.
One significant finding is the growth in registrations within the Registry of Related Activities (RAC). By 2025, there were 4,657 women registered compared to 1,852 men and one non-binary person, totaling 6,511 nationwide. This marks a 296% increase since 2023 when only 1,643 people were registered. Most new registrations are among shellfish openers (2,704 women in 2025), fillet workers (2,439 women), and baiters (2,053 women). The report also notes that out of those registered in RAC, 356 identify as belonging to indigenous groups, mainly Mapuche.
The Artisanal Fishing Registry (RPA) also saw a rise in female participation. In 2025, there were 28,042 women registered—an increase of 3% over the previous year. The number of registered artisanal fisherwomen reached 8,524 in 2025, up by nearly a thousand from two years earlier.
In organizational roles within artisanal fishing groups nationwide, more women have taken on leadership positions. In total, there were 1,741 women holding posts within these organizations during 2025; among them, those serving as presidents rose from 460 to 492 between 2024 and 2025. There are currently 1,953 organizations listed on the Register of Artisanal Organizations (ROA), with most being mixed-gender.
Regarding Management Areas for Benthic Resource Exploitation (AMERB), there are now 477 beneficiary organizations nationally; of these groups, almost two-thirds include both men and women.
The report further details trends across other areas such as industrial fisheries, recreational fishing activities, aquaculture production volumes and landings. It also notes that Indespa increased its support for small-scale fisheries and aquaculture projects by funding more initiatives—a rise of about seventeen percent—which benefited approximately twenty-four thousand five hundred people overall; twenty-six percent of these beneficiaries were women.
According to Subpesca: “This document is prepared jointly by Sernapesca, Subpesca and Indespa with the aim of making visible through gender-focused statistical information the participation of men and women in fishing and aquaculture sectors—promoting economic inclusion as well as equal opportunities while encouraging full effective participation by women within an industry traditionally dominated by men.”
