A National Workshop on Capacity-building for the Implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) was held during 21-22 March 2016, at the Multi-Purpose Hall, India International Centre, New Delhi.
The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF)in collaboration with the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) and the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF) organized the workshop with the support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development Fund (IFAD) to promote awareness about the SSF Guidelines and to mobilize support for their implementation.
The SSF Guidelines, formally adopted by the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in June 2014, is the first internationally agreed instrument dedicated entirely to the small-scale fisheries sector. These Guidelines, developed through a bottom-up process and extensive consultations with fishing communities worldwide, are mainly: to enhance the contribution of small-scale fisheries to food security and nutrition and support the realization of the right to adequate food; to contribute to the equitable development of small-scale fishing communities and poverty eradication and to improve the socioeconomic situation of fishers and fishworkers; and to provide guidance to States and stakeholders to develop and implement ecosystem-friendly and participatory policies, strategies and legal frameworks for responsible and sustainable small-scale fisheries.
The key objectives of the workshop were:
· to inform the small-scale fishing communities across India about the guiding principles of the SSF Guidelines;
· to promote all-round awareness about the SSF Guidelines, particularly on gender equality and social development;
· to highlight the small-scale fishery organizations’ efforts at empowering the fishing communities and valorizing the subsector; and
· to discuss how Indian policies and legislation at various levels to protect life and livelihoods of small-scale fishers, fishworkers and fishing communities can benefit from the SSF Guidelines.
The workshop was attended by a wide spectrum of distinguished participants not only from marine and inland fishing communities across India, but also from a cross-section of ministries, departments and agencies, both at the Union and state level, dealing with human rights, rural development, decentralisation and local governance, labour and employment, environment, forests, biodiversity, climate change, rural development, trade, tribal affairs, planning and fisheries. The workshop helped these agencies to be introduced to the SSF Guidelines in the presence of the representatives of fishers, fishworkers and fishing communities. The fishing communities, on the other hand, were informed about the beneficial schemes, policies and legal instruments within the competence of these agencies. Participants of the workshop also included representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), scientific organizations, regional fisheries bodies, FAO, IFAD, ILO, etc.
The two-day workshop started with an overview of the SSF Guidelines, focusing on its various chapters. Small-scale fishery organizationsinland, coastal and marinethen highlighted their efforts at empowering the subsector and also shares their concerns. This was followed by drawing attention to how existing policies and legislation deal with life and livelihood issues of both men and women and how gaps in legal and policy instruments could be meaningfully addressed by implementing the SSF Guidelines.
The presentations and discussions of the workshop can be accessed at :
https://sites.google.com/site/ssfguidelines/home
2016 ICSF