National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) and National Platform for Small Scale Fishworkers (Inland) have joined with millions of people represented by hundreds of peoples’ organisations all over the world in protesting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations being conducted by the governments of 16 countries. The 19th round of the negotiations is in session in Hyderabad from 24th to 28th July, 2017. The member countries of RCEP comprises 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners — India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Thousands of protesting people from different occupations and sectors, farmers, fishers, industrial and service workers and their organisations including protesters from different countries have gathered in the city of Hyderabad in a united demonstration of disapproval to the negotiations being conducted to create new international statutes and lucrative business opportunities for corporate business at the cost of peoples’ right to life and livelihood. Pradip Chatterjee, President, Dakshinbanga Matsyajibi Forum (DMF) is representing both National Fishworkers’ Forum and National Platform for Small Scale Fish Workers (India) in the anti-RCEP protest programmes at Hyderabad. The small scale fishing communities of India are already suffering from over and destructive fishing in the sea, pollution and encroachments of water bodies, lack of tenure rights and of right to habitat, finance, infrastructure and social security. In the name of Blue Revolution, Sagarmala, Industrial and Economic Corridors the government of India is running havoc to the natural resources and to the livelihood of the people dependent on those resources. The Government is bent on to implement its policy of investment driven increase in productivity that is going to replace the small scale fishing commuities by modern entrepreneurs in the fisheries sector. Government of India’s prime objective in joining RCEP is to fuel this process of destruction by drawing in more investment accepting anti-people terms. The fishing communities are opposed to the RCEP as it aims at empowering the corporate business and at dis-empowering the working people. For the fish workers of India the negotiations will bring in opening up of their fishing grounds to more intensive loot by national and international business, less fish for fishing communities; more opening for big business in the fresh fish market, less opportunities for small fish vendors; more initiative and investment for export market and neglect for domestic market; denial and roll back of the financial, infrastructure and social security support to the small scale fish workers as their occupational entitlements. The fishing communities are opposed to RCEP because it will further endanger the food security, nutritional status and employment opportunities of our country by destroying small scale fishing. The fishing communities are opposed to RCEP because its negotiations are non-transparent, undemocratic and conspiratorial. No report of the earlier 18 rounds of negotiations is available for the public. No public consultation has taken place on the issues that are being negotiated. Yet these negotiations are going to severely affect the livelihood of millions of people. The fishing communities are opposed to RCEP because through the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism it proposes to deny the sovereignty of our government in providing consumer protection, environment conservation, workers’ entitlements including terms of employment and social security. The fish workers demand that No trade negotiation behind the back of the people, no trade agreement without the informed consent of the affected communities and no compromise on fishing communities’ rights and entitlements that include resource access, tenure, habitat, finance, infrastructure, market and social security.