The female is heartening for fishermen (3)
I believe the answer is:
her
'the female' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'heartening for fishermen' is the wordplay.
'HER' is hidden within the letters.
But, I am not sure how the hidden word is indicated.
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for her that I've seen before include "Belonging to the woman" , "That lady" , "Pronoun used of ship" , "She, objectively" , "That lady's" .)