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