Inaugurating the convention, general secretary of CITU, M.K.Pandhe, highlighted the crisis of sea food in the world after world capitalism has exhausted and damaged the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Now they are concentrating on the Indian Ocean and our sub-continent for fish and prawns, etc. He said the government of India's economic policy since 1991 has facilitated this exploitation which has affected our oceanic bio-diversity and also the life and living of our fishermen. Fishermen at various places are resisting this drive as in the case of Chilka lake. They are conducting a movement to remove the illegal encirclements (gherris) in the lake in order to regain their traditional rights. In West Bengal and Kerala the fishermen's movement is quite strong; it is taking shape in other states also. These movements, which are being guided by the CITU and Kisan Sbaha, needs to be coordinated and given a definite direction with the spirit of worker-peasant unity, Pandhe said.

Pitabasan Das, general secretary of West Bengal fishermen union, initiated the discussion on the basis of a note wherein he had narrated the problems faced by fishermen and mentioned their demands. These are as follows: Issue of identity cards, insurances scheme, house building schemes, distribution of water bodies to fishermen's cooperatives, ban on entry of big trawlers in the Indian Ocean, ban on shrimp farms in lakes and agricultural lands, fishermen evicted from such shrimp farms to be given back their earlier rights with proper rehabilitation arrangements, suitable measures to protect indigenous varieties of fish, resistance to WTO offensive through patents, and infra-structural facilities like fishing harbours, cold storage, ice plants, rest houses etc to be provided by the central government, and so on. Altogether nine comrades from various states took part in the discussion. At the end, a resolution was adopted to organise the fishermen throughout the country and to have a bigger national convention after the elections. A 15 member national preparatory committee has been formed with Pitabasan Das as convenor.

A presidium consisting of Sivaji Patnaik, president of the Orissa fishermen's union, Rohini Kar, vice-president of the West Bengal fishermen's union, K. Mohammad Ali of Tamilnadu and Ramachandra of Andhra Pradesh conducted the convention. At the outset condolence resolutions were adopted paying tributes to the brave soldiers of our country who laid down their lives in the Kargil's battlefield and also in memory of the Orissa fishermen who were killed by police and prawn mafias on 29th May night.