In the last two decades prior to 1990’s a serious and severely damaging fish disease has been spreading through countries of the Asia Pacific region with dangerous consequences. Not only is this disease- now officially termed Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS)- a scientific puzzle, it is also a worrisome social problem. Hundreds of inland fishermen, often the more marginalized amongst the fishworker communities in the affected countries, have been overnight deprived of their incomes, as consumers began to totally reject the disfigured, disease-stricken fish. It was in this context that the ICSF, in co-operation with the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), Bangkok, organized a two-day consultation on " EUS vis-á-vis the Environment and the People" in Trivandrum, India, during 25 and 26 May 1992.