Strengthening small-scale fishery communities – a glimpse of ICSF’s activities in Asia
The best way to get to know the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) is to study all the impressive work they have done in small-scale fisheries throughout the years, not least to help the SSF Guidelines become reality. Here is just a glimpse, reviewing ICSF’s recent work in Asia. The texts is based on writing from, and an interview with, Mr Sebastian Mathew, Executive Director of ICSF.
Empowering people to help the environment
The SSF Guidelines stand out in that they are holistic – they acknowledge and care for the people in small-scale fisheries, not just the fish. Therefore, they are often said to be a complement to the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries from 1995 which focusses on the resource, ecosystem and biodiversity. But Mr Sebastian Mathew, suggests the SSF Guidelines play an even bigger role, by de facto paving the way for the Code to work:
– I see the Guidelines essentially as a tool to look after the people, Mr Mathew argues, while the Code mainly looks after the resource. The Guidelines thereby pave the way for the Code, because if you look after the people in fisheries, then we can expect them to be more responsible in looking after the resource
He thereby stresses what is also reflected within the ecosystem approach to fisheries management, that the people who depend on a particular fishery must be part of the solutions to restore and sustain it. In short, when people are empowered, they stand better equipped to manage their fisheries sustainably.
Good examples from Viet Nam and Myanmar
Mr Mathew puts forward that he has seen many good examples of fisher folk and environmental organizations working together for the benefit or the people and the fish, both in his home country India, and elsewhere – ICSF being one among them. For instance, ICSF partnered with Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) to organize two workshops (in September 2018 and in May 2019 respectively) to raise awareness about the role of co-management in small-scale fishing communities in the Binh Dinh and Bình Thuận provinces of Viet Nam.
The workshop participants discussed the SSF Guidelines and the 2017 Fisheries Law of Viet Nam, and how communities are crucial for co-managing the fisheries co-monitoring is to deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
He gives another example from December 2019, when ICSF together with Network Activities Group (NAG), invited fisher folk to review the fisheries management in two townships of the Ayeyarwaddy Region in Myanmar. There too, the people were encouraged to pick up co-management and integrate the ecosystem approach to fisheries management into their co-management mechanisms.
Laying the ground for organizations to drive
ICSF and NAG have also trained leaders of the local Fisheries Development Association (FDA) in Myanmar to build their capacity to identify issues related to overfishing and co-management. On that note, Mr Mathew explains that:
– A key role ICSF plays is to lay the ground for organizations to drive the issues they care about. With sound knowledge about their rights and a solid organizational structure, they stand better equipped to get active and participate in policy- and decision-making.
This approach is reflected in ICSF’s name “…in Support of Fishworkers”. They aim to influence policies and decision-making in fisheries on global, regional, national and local levels, and much of that advocacy through supporting national fish worker, and community-based organizations.
The SSF Guidelines – a multitool
Small-scale fishing communities all over the world welcome the SSF Guidelines. This is because they reflect the peoples own needs and priorities. They were developed by fisher folk for fisher folk, setting recommendations for matters going far beyond mesh size or size of the boat. Mr Mathew points out how practical it is for the people in small-scale fisheries to have one tool addressing so many issues. He gives one example of working conditions:
– Before the SSF Guidelines, all matters of labour rights and safety would naturally fall under the ILO. But now fishing communities can use the Guidelines to call attention to how social issues such as worker’s rights matter a great deal in small-scale fisheries.
Coming back to Myanmar, he describes how ICSF and NAG undertook a study in September 2018 to improve conditions for migrant fishers and fish workers in the stow net fishery in the Gulf of Mottoma. The study identified key problems facing migrant fishers and fish workers, and proposed strict enforcement of contracts between employers and workers, abolition of making advance payments, reducing overcapacity in stow net fisheries, and establishing fish worker associations to improve their working and living conditions – in line with both ILO instruments and the SSF Guidelines.
Visible results in legislation and policies
When Mr Mathew joined ICSF in the early 1990s, there was no talk of human right in fisheries, he recalls. In his view, the interest for the human aspect of fisheries has practically exploded since then:
– We have come a long way from the 1990s to now, he concludes, and yet we still have a long way to go. In a sense, we are standing at a junction. We must remember that the SSF Guidelines are part of something larger.
A visible result of the change Mr Mathew describes is that the SSF Guidelines are increasingly being referred to in legislation and policies. For instance, in India’s National Policy on Marine Fisheries from 2017, India recommends implementing the SSF Guidelines. This is the result of fisher folk organizations taking active part in developing the law. With support from ICSF and FAO, fishery stakeholders continue to be active in implementing this law.
Calling for customary rights in the Philippines
Still, far from all laws and policies reflect the recommendations in the SSF Guidelines. A recent example of how ICSF works to achieve a change in this regard comes from the Philippines. ICSF, in collaboration with Tambuyog Development Center, invited fishing communities – including indigenous peoples – to undertake a benchmarking of the Philippine legislation and policies against the SSF Guidelines.
– Instruments that can strengthen indigenous peoples’ rights, especially tenure rights, is often crucial to their situation. Indigenous peoples therefore tend to welcome the SSF Guidelines with much enthusiasm, Mr Mathew points out.
These consultations also drew attention to the absence of rules and regulations regarding the fishing communities right to land. The communities recommended that indigenous peoples’ customary rights to ancestral waters should be protected and that their participation in decision-making processes should improve. The findings were shared with municipal fishers as well as tuna hand-liners through cluster consultations in the Luzon and Visayas provinces in 2019.
Broad community participation in Sri Lanka
ICSF has also helped spark a discussion on fishery legislation in Sri Lanka. ICSF, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Forum for Small-scale Fisheries (SLFSSF), undertook several activities during 2018 and 2019 to incorporate the SSF Guidelines into fisheries policy making and planning processes:
A summary of the SSF Guidelines as well as fact sheets and posters have been translated into Sinhala and Tamil, and distributed among small-scale fishing communities. Fisher folk and other stakeholders have also been invited to workshops and stakeholder meetings across the country. In light of these consultations, a groups of policy experts then reviewed the Sri Lankan National Fisheries Policy and proposed ways to integrate key elements of the SSF Guidelines.
– This is another example of why community participation really matters, Mr Mathew underlines. It is also an example of how the Guidelines can really help highlight where rules and regulations don’t protect the interests of fisher folk, and spark a discussion for change.
Mr Mathew also stresses that there can never be too much awareness raising and consultations – the discussion must stay alive, and therefore people need to be reminded and remain active.
 Fishing harbour Akkaraipettai, Nagapattinam, India. © Shuddhawati Peke/ICSF |
About ICSF
The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) is an international non-governmental organization with a mission to support and empower fishing communities and fish worker organizations.
With offices in India and the Netherlands, and with members and projects all over the world, they strive to influence policies and decision-making in fisheries on global, regional, national and local levels. Decent work, equity, gender-justice, self-reliance and sustainability are in focus.
ICSF monitors current issues in small-scale fisheries and help fishing organizations and communities stay informed and involved in issues concerning them. They also publish reports, prepare guidelines for policymakers, and arrange trainings, consultations and other occasions for multiple stakeholders to gather around crucial small-scale fisheries issues.
ICSF and FAO
ICSF’s partnership with FAO stretches decades back in time. ICSF has been awarded by FAO for their contribution to the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and they also played a crucial role in arranging the consultations with fisher folk that led up to the writing of the SSF Guidelines.
Learn more
Find out more about ICSF on their website.
You should also visit their information site about the SSF Guidelines. It has a short and clear summary of the SSF Guidelines in many languages, along with accounts of numerous workshops, trainings and other undertakings by ICSF to empower fishing communities and make the SSF Guidelines a reality.
And don’t miss the SAMUDRA Report, published three times a year. I discuss issues in small-scale fisheries in more depth, and also analyses opportunities and challenges for implementing the SSF Guidelines.