Fishworker organizations the world over are concerned about the degradation of coastal habitats vital to fishery resources. This concern was articulated in the first-ever Conference of Fishworkers and their Supporters in Rome in 1984, and, subsequently, in all the three conferences organized by ICSF since 1986. In the conference in Cebu in 1994, for instance, the impact of coastal area degradation on the livelihood of the artisanal and small-scale fishery sector was discussed at length. It was recognized that fishworker organizations need to look systematically into major coastal resource management issues and draw up action programmes that would, at the outset, address fisheries issues in the littoral area. This could eventually be expanded to animate fisheries sector institutions to defend the interests of fishing communities in the coastal zone against marginalization by other user-groups and interested parties.\ud
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There has, therefore, been a strong emphasis on issues related to the coastal environment in the activities and programmes of ICSF. In addition, a specific request from Indian fishworkers for a session to help them develop a framework to examine such issues, provided the impetus for the workshop and symposium on fisheries and coastal area management, held in Chennai (then called Madras), India, from 26 September to 1 October 1996. The focus was on countries in the South Asian region, i.e. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and India, which often share rivers and seas, while also facing similar issues of coastal area degradation and management.\ud
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This publication is the official record of the proceedings of the Madras workshop and symposium. Apart from a detailed summing-up of the various sessions held over the six-day period, it contains country reports as well as accounts of presentations by experts