Many women on remote islands which were once popular tourist destinations are jobless and struggling to feed their families due to COVID19. Once employed in the tourist sector, they now seek alternative livelihoods which they can undertake while looking after small children.

COVID19 has caused economic shifts from employment to subsistence livelihoods where food is scarce and preserving commodities like fish in increasingly warmer tropical weather and extreme weather events is essential and transporting goods further afield is more commonplace due to declines in local demand from tourists.

However, in many cases, women do not have the resources to kickstart novel businesses which reduce food waste by having facilities such as ice making freezers to keep their stocks fresh, so ReefScan is actively assisting them to develop novel strategies for their business models and reduce post harvest losses. While you could think of the axiom "there are plenty more fish in the sea," reducing post harvest loss reduces the need to go and find more fish on a daily basis, and so reduces pressure on aquatic biodiversity. It also enables higher returns for better quality products and increases food safety, nutrition and hygiene.