Brief Overview of ICSF Chandrika Sharma, ICSF Emerging Concerns of Fishing Communities: Issues of Labour, Trade, Gender, Disaster Preparedness, Biodiversity and Responsible Fisheries July 2006 SESC, Fortaleza, Brazil

International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) ICSF works on issues of concern to the artisanal and small-scale fisheries sector, especially in the developing world.

International Conference of Fishworkers and Supporters (ICFWS) Rome, 1984

ICSF was formed in Trivandrum, India, 1986 by a group of concerned individuals from 18 countries in response to an invitation from the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) and the South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS)

Programmes Campaigns and Action Communication Monitoring and Research Exchange and Training

Campaigns and Action To work towards greater recognition of small- scale fisheries To draw attention to processes that have an adverse impact on the access of fishworkers to resources Towards this, ICSF – organizes seminars, workshops and conferences – lobbies international processes

Significant conferences International Symposium on Marine Environment and the Future of Fishworkers, Lisbon (1989) Global Fisheries Trends and the Future of Fishworkers, Bangkok (1990) Struggles of Fishworkers: New Concerns for Support, Cebu (1994) Workshop on Gender Perspectives in Fisheries, Senegal (1996) South Asian Workshop on Fisheries and Coastal Area Management, Chennai (1996) Forging Unity:Coastal Communities and the Indian Ocean’s Future, India (2001) Cut Away the Net of Globalization, Thailand (2002)

Significant conferences Empowerment through Information: Training Programme for Fishworker Organizations and NGOs, India, (2003) Asian Regional Consultation on Women in Fisheries, Indonesia (2004) Latin American Regional Seminar on Sustainable Fisheries and Livelihoods in Latin America: the Imperative of Recognizing Artisanal Fishworkers’ Fishing Access Rights, Chile (2005) Regional Workshop on Post-tsunami Rehabilitation of Fishing Communities and Fisheries-based Livelihoods, India (2006) Workshop on Fishing Communities and Sustainable Development in Eastern and Southern Africa: The role of Small-Scale Fisheries, Tanzania (2006)

Lobbying ICSF has engaged with several UN processes/ organizations on the following issues: – Labour issues, coverage of small-scale fishers under the proposed Convention and Recommendation on Working Conditions in the Fisheries Sector): ILO – Recognition of rights of small-scale fishworkers, equity issues in fisheries management, ecolabelling, turtle-fishery interactions, CITES listing, gender in fisheries, poverty in fisheries: UNCED, FAO

Lobbying – Rights of small-scale fishworkers and communities within a larger oceans/ biodiversity perspective: CBD – Rights of small-scale fishworkers to highly migratory fish stocks: UNFSA – Fishing subsidies debate: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

UN Fish Stocks Agreement “the need to avoid adverse impacts on, and ensure access to fisheries by, subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fishers and women fishworkers, as well as indigenous people in developing States, particularly small island developing States; ” …Article 24 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries “Recognizing the important contributions of artisanal and small- scale fisheries to employment, income and food security, States should appropriately protect the rights of fishers and fishworkers, particularly those engaged in subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fisheries, to a secure and just livelihood, as well as preferential access, where appropriate, to traditional fishing grounds and resources in the waters under their national jurisdiction” ….Article 6.18

Important Campaigns ICSF is a founder member of the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA) that campaigns for fair and equitable fisheries arrangement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries. ICSF has worked to develop a gender perspective within fishworker organizations.

Publications SAMUDRA Report Through the SAMUDRA Report, ICSF promotes debates on issues that concern fishworkers. An example is the debate on ITQs in fisheries

Yemaya Yemaya ICSF’s newsletter on Women in Fisheries Forum for news and views of organizations and individuals working on gender issues in fisheries Tracks grassroot processes in different parts of the world

Other Publications Conversations – A Trialogue on Power, Intervention and Organization in Fisheries Fish Stakes – Pros and cons of the Marine Stewardship Council initiative: a debate from the pages of SAMUDRA Report Dossiers– Five dossiers on issues related to women in fisheries SAMUDRA Monographs Proceedings

Documentation Centre (DC) Works towards:  Information identification, collection and documentation  Information Dissemination  Providing support to other ICSF programmes

SAMUDRA News Alerts Delivers news of relevance to small- scale fisheries on a daily basis Subscriber base of over 500 Widely circulated and reproduced on various websites/ listservss

ICSF Website The website has become a major source of information dissemination on small-scale fisheries, through:  SAMUDRA News Alerts  Online documents/ photos/ video databases online  Thematic and conference websites  ICSF publications online

Multimedia Productions CDs – Indian Ocean 2001 – Fisheries in Sub-Saharan Africa (French and English) – International Legal Instruments – Indian Ocean Tsunami Videos – Smoke in the Water – A Step Forward – Under the Sun: the transient fisherfolk of Jambudwip – Right to Survive: Turtle conservation and fisheries livelihoods

Monitoring and Research Document and communicate important aspects of artisanal and small-scale fisheries Generate information useful in lobbying decision-making processes at various levels

Monitoring and Research Topics include: – Status of fisheries from a fishworker perspective – Coastal area management – Social security in fisheries – Fishing legislation – Artisanal fishing zone and its importance – Women in fisheries

Exchange and Training Provide support to fishworker organizations Transfer fishing and fish processing technologies

Transfer of the trammel net fishing technique from India to Senegal and Mozambique