Port Blair, Oct 16: 3 days National Training of Trainers Workshop was conducted by International Collective in Support Fishworkers(ICSF) Trust on the Small-Scale Fish worker (SSF) Guidelines in Chennai, Tamil Nadu from 13th to 15th October. The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (VGSSF) are guiding principles for the small-scale fisheries sector formulated by the Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nationsin 2015. The guidelines will guide dialogue, policy processes and actions at all levels and help the sector to realize its full contribution to food security and poverty eradication.
The aim of the workshop was to enhance the capacity of fish worker’s organizations, CSOs, and community-based organizations to engage with the SSF Guidelines to negotiate issues of concern in regard to policy, legislation, lives and livelihoods of the SSF communities. The workshop was attended by fisher representatives from all the coastal states and coastal union territories including Andaman & Nicobar Islands (ANI). Mr. S. U Maheshwar Rao, Member of Governing Body, National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) & Representative of National Platform for Small-Scale Fishworkers (NPSSFW) and Ms. Madhuri Mondal, Senior Programme Officer Dakshin Foundationand an islander working with fishing communities, attended the workshop from ANI.
The 3-day workshop was divided into multiple sessions. On the first day, there were sessions on customary rights of fishing communities and challenges faced by the marine fishing communities in India by Trustees of ICSF Dr. John Kurien and Mr. V Vivekanandan. There were also talks on Marine Fisheries Management in India and Status of Marine Fish Stocks in India by scientists of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI). On the second day, there was a talk on Public Expenditure in India on Coastal fishing communities by scientists from Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE). There were also sessions on the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies and its implications for India. On the third day, there were presentations on Coastal land rights by Senior Researchers from Centre for Policy Research and advocates from Madras and Bombay High Courts.
Discussions were held on fisheries governance issues faced by marine fishers in each state and the governance reforms needed in the states and at union level. The representatives from ANI
expressed the need to have a mechanism for participatory fisheries management in the islands by formation of state and district level committees with fisher representatives, fisheries department officials, civil society organizations working with fishers and scientific institutions like FSI, CMFRI, Pondicherry University. Discussions were held on existing schemes for marine fishing communities in India and reforms needed on these. The representatives from ANI mentioned the need to provide pension to fish workers above the age of 50 years and also to provide diesel subsidy for the fishers. They informed that there is also a need to build capacity of fishers in the islands periodically on various aspects of health, safety and use of technology. They discussed the need to improve the post-harvest fish storage and handling by enhancing hygiene and quality of facilities in local fish markets. The need to recognize and prioritize the customary rights of local fishers was also highlighted.
