Brief Overview of ICSFBrief Overview of ICSF

Chandrika Sharma, ICSF

 

Emerging Concerns of Fishing Communities:Issues of Labour, Trade, Gender, Disaster Preparedness,

Biodiversity and Responsible Fisheries4 - 6 July 2006

SESC, Fortaleza, Brazil

International Collective International Collective

in Support of in Support of Fishworkers Fishworkers

(ICSF)(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)

ProgrammesProgrammes

Campaigns and ActionCommunicationMonitoring and

Research Exchange and

Training

Campaigns and ActionCampaigns 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 conferencesSignificant 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 conferencesSignificant 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)

LobbyingLobbying 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

LobbyingLobbying

– 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 CampaignsImportant 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.

PublicationsPublications

SAMUDRA Report

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

YemayaYemaya ICSF’s newsletter on Women in Fisheries

Forum for news and views oforganizations and individuals working on gender issues in fisheries

Tracks grassroot processes in different parts of the world

Other PublicationsOther PublicationsConversations –

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 Documentation CentreCentre (DC) (DC)

Works towards: Information identification,

collection and documentation

Information Dissemination Providing support to other

ICSF programmes

SAMUDRA News AlertsSAMUDRA 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 WebsiteICSF 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 ProductionsMultimedia 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 Monitoring and Researchand 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 Monitoring and ResearchResearch

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 Exchange and Training and Training

Provide support to fishworker organizations

Transfer fishing and fish processing technologies

Transfer of the trammel net fishingtechnique from India to Senegal and Mozambique