International Legal Instruments Relevant to Fisheries and Fishing Communities
ICSF draws its mandate from the historic International Conference of Fishworkers and their Supporters (ICFWS), held in Rome in 1984, parallel to the World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
A number of fishworker organizations and concerned intellectuals, academics and social activists felt that the FAO conference had chosen to overemphasize the commercial, industrial, scientific and fishery resource aspects, at the expense of the actual real-world, life-and-blood people involved in fishing worldwide fishworkers who are often sections of the population marginalized from mainstream society.
The main aims of ICSF are to:
monitor issues that relate to the life, livelihood and living conditions of fishworkers around the world;
disseminate information on these issues, particularly amongst fisherfolk;
prepare guidelines for policymakers that stress fisheries development and management of a just,participatory and sustainable nature;
and help create the space and momentum for the development of alternatives in the small-scale fisheries sector.
