Wearing a cap and a white apron, Melina Lucero cuts the heads and tails off fish caught in the Paraná River, before skilfully filleting them. Her co-workers will process and package the fish to sell as traditional, small-scale fish preserves at food fairs along the banks of the river in Argentina.

Lucero forms part of an added-value initiative for small-scale fishing operations in the wetlands of the Paraná, a river that has many branches in northeastern Argentina, creating a series of fragile ecosystems that are rich in biodiversity.

The programme, promoted by the Proteger (Protect) Foundation, based in the province of Santa Fe, trains women in the region's fishing communities.

"The plan consists of courses in different fishing communities and, later, where there is greater interest as well as greater possibilities for development, it means giving them the possibility of working in this area," Julieta Peteán, wetlands and fisheries coordinator for Proteger, said.

For taking the courses and producing the fish products twice a week, the women receive 250 pesos per month (85 dollars) from a fund administered by the Proteger Foundation, with support from the Inter-American Foundation, which provides grants for sustainable and participative projects in Latin America.

The financial support will continue until December. By then, Proteger expects to have a negotiation plan ready that will allow them to distribute the products in various markets. "Those involved will receive a percentage of the sales, leading towards making the effort self-sustaining," added Peteán.

Before getting involved in the project, some of the women were homemakers, while the men would go to the "ranchada", a camp the fishermen set up on one of the islands of the Paraná, where they stay two to three weeks at a time while they ply the river's waters for fish.

But Lucero, whose father is a fisherman, did work outside the home a great deal. The fishermen "would go to the island with the motorboat, to bring them food, tools and fuel, and then I'd bring back the fish to sell," she says.

But four years ago, the catch began to decline. "Before I would come back with1,000 or 2,000 kilos, but lately there were times when I came back with just 50 kilos and my head down. Also, my mother would tell me it was not a job for a woman," says Lucero. Many of the fishermen began to take jobs as bricklayers or farmhands.

Fishing is threatened by the big hydroelectric dams on the upper Paraná, which affect the breeding grounds of the fish. Another major factor is the intensive exploitation of fish stocks begun a decade ago by large companies that sell the fish to foreign markets, which has seen a sharp increase in the last five years.

The most-caught fish is the sábalo, or American shad (Alosa sapidissima), a key species in the food chain because it feeds the boga, dorado, surubí, patí and other fish sought by the commercial fishing industry. According to Proteger's data, fish exports from the Paraná grew from just over 3,000 tons in 1993 to nearly 40,000 tons in 2004.

With this panorama, Proteger gave up part of its headquarters to launch the pilot programme for training women in river communities. Here, in Santa Fe, capital of the province of the same name, the experience has advanced further and various products are produced, including smoked fish, pickled fish and fish paste.

"We prepare escabeche (pickled fish) and preserves of the amarillo, patí, moncholo, mandubé, boga, armado and sábalo," says Nelson Peteán, food engineer in charge of training and supervision of processing in Santa Fe.

"We generate as much as 300 percent added value," he says.