The role of NGOs in fishing

The fisheries sector is highly polarised. At one extreme, semi-industrial export operations create huge benefits for boat owners and generate large foreign exchange earnings. These operations depend on high levels of technology and capital. At the other extreme, communities struggle to survive from small-scale subsistence fishing.

The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) was founded in India in 1986 to promote and defend small-scale and artisanal fisheries. The ICSF is a global network promoting fisheries that are sustainable, community based, co-managed, fair for men and women and share benefits throughout communities.

However, the ICSF no longer supports all small-scale fisheries practices. In many places, the nature of small-scale fishing has changed in the last twenty years:

• The temporary migrations of workers to fishing from agriculture and other sectors are now permanent.
• Rural communities have disappeared into urban sprawls. They are no longer separate entities, or have been displaced, so do not retain their identity as fishing communities.
• Many national artisanal sectors have doubled or more in size, due to population growth, permanent in-migration and outside investment. The 1996 census in Peru listed 6,000 vessels and 30,000 marine fishermen. Estimates for 2006 are 10,000 vessels and 80 to 100,000 fishermen.

These changes have been caused by the overexpansion of small-scale fisheries, poor management and poor governance. To improve the contribution of small-scale fisheries to sustainable development, policymakers must:

• recognise the small-scale fisheries model for entire Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). With technological advances, most small-scale fishing operations are now able to fish an entire EEZ
• protect the livelihood, settlement and fishing access rights of small-scale fishing communities
• promote fisheries trade that enhances food security whilst sustaining resources
• campaign to remove subsidies that unfairly benefit larger fisheries over unsubsidised artisanal fisheries
• promote benefit-sharing arrangements for small-scale fishing communities
• support the legal movement of fishworkers across international borders
• recognise the rights of fishworkers to safe working conditions, including access to social security
• recognise the role of women in fisheries and fishing communities.

Brian O'Riordan
ICSF Brussels Office Secretary, Sentier des Rossignols 2, 1330 Rixensart, Belgium
briano@tiscali.be
T +32 265 25201
F +32 265 40407

See also

International Collective in Support of Fishworkers
www.icsf.net

'Sharing the Fish 2006' Conference
www.fishallocation.com

Allocation of Fisheries Resources: A Small-scale Fisheries Perspective, Presentation to the 'Sharing the Fish - Allocation Issues in Fisheries Management' meeting, by Chandrika Sharma and Ramya Rajagopalan, ICSF, 2006 (PDF)
www.icsf.net/jsp/english/presentations/presentationDocs/
1146286368158***sharing_the_fish.PDF

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