During spring 1984, the FAO organized a meeting on the future of world fisheries. Experts and decision makers were invited, but no professional artisanal fishermen. A small group of people decided to organize a parallel meeting in Rome and to invite artisanal fishermen and their “supporters”, in order to allow them to express their point of view on the future of their sector. The meeting became the basis for a new organisation - the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), with offices now in Belgium and India. 

A few years later, in 1989, the National Collective of Artisanal Fishermen of Senegal established contact with ICSF to share information about European trawlers who were fishing in their waters.  The governance and impact of these European 'fishing agreements' in developing countries was a neglected issue, so ICSF, working with other European and African NGOs launched an investigation and organised a conference called "the battle for fish". It was at this meeting that the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA) was established. 

CFFA has evolved into platform of NGOs based in Brussels that documents the development and environmental impacts of EU-ACP (European Union - African, Caribbean and Pacific states) fisheries relations on small-scale fishing communities. The core objective of CFFA is promote the livelihoods and food security of coastal fishing communities, through information sharing, advocacy and supporting dialogue between organisations in ACP countries and decision makers and the private sector in the EU. Our work now goes beyond the issue of fisheries agreements, and CFFA plays an active role in monitoring and influencing decisions on trade, investments and political reforms in fisheries relations, including promoting economic, political and social rights for small-scale fishers and fish processors.