The State of World Fisheries from a Fishworker Perspective :
This programme was conceived, inter alia, to generate reliable information about fishworkers and their communities in different parts of the world, in light of the fact that while information about fisheries resources is readily available, little is known about workers who harvest these resources for their life and livelihood.

Crisis in World Fisheries: Response of Fishworker Movements:
When fisheries in several regions of the world are seen to be in crisis, it is particularly relevant to study the response of artisanal and small-scale fishworker organizations and their politics of engagement for the sustainability of resource use in fisheries. This programme was intended to document these processes by facilitating opportunities for dialogue between those part of, or supporting, fishworker movements in India, Canada and Senegal.

The Impact of Trade on Fishing Communities: A draft paper, Shell Out: The Shrimp-Turtle Dispute at WTO:
Conserving Sea Turtles and Protecting Livelihoods, was prepared to study the implications of multilateral environmental and trade agreements for small-scale fisheries. The study shows how artisanal fishing communities inadvertently become the victims of international trade disputes over fishing methods.

Social Security of Fishworkers and the Role of Subsidies:
The aim was to gain information on the possible forms of social security that could be provided in the artisanal sector and how such systems operated in other countries.

In 2000, the report titled Social Security for Fishworkers:
A Study of Welfare and Development Assistance Programmes in the Marine Fishery Sector of Kerala State, India, put together by John Kurien and Antonyto Paul of the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, was published in English as a SAMUDRA monograph. The study analyzes the growth and changing composition of social security provisions in the fisheries sector of Kerala for the period 1964-1998.

Women in Fisheries (WIF) Programme:
Supporting the role of women in fisheries and enhancing their roles in decision-making processes at various levels has been a focus area for ICSF since its inception. The WIF programme has been instrumental in highlighting and valorizing, through workshops, country programmes, publications and studies, the vital role of women in fisheries and fishing communities in the South.
Apart from WIF country programmes in Ghana and Brazil and, to a very limited extent, in Senegal and India, the WIF Programme organized a Workshop on Gender and Coastal Fishing Communities in Latin America in June 2000 in Brazil, a Workshop on Gender, Globalization and Fisheries, in Canada and the Asian Fisherfolk Conference in January 2002 in Thailand.

The Problematic of the Artisanal Fishing Zone:
The concept of the ‘artisanal fishing zone’ has been a significant management tool recognized by fishworker organizations right from the 1984 Rome Conference. The idea was also formally proposed to the FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries by ICSF and was eventually incorporated into the Code, with some amendments proposed by member countries. It was recognized that this concept has to be seen in the light of traditional migration patterns of fishermen as well as the changing nature of the artisanal sector, marked by technological changes that increased mobility. While artisanal fishers of some countries may find the artisanal zone a highly effective management tool, artisanal fishers of other countries, who have developed the capacity to fish in more distant waters, may find this concept unduly restrictive.

to discuss the practical implications for artisanal fishing communities, of Article 6 Para 18 of the FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, on preferential access to artisanal and small-scale fishworkers;

to examine the history and status of exclusive artisanal fishing zones; and

to discuss the implications of adopting the artisanal fishing zone and other related management measures for conservation and better allocation of fisheries resources.