This study explores the status of Brazil’s social welfare system for the fisheries sector, from the point of view of democratization of access, the methodologies used and the extent to which demands have been taken into account. Brazil’s social welfare system is currently the focus of restructuring programmes by the government, which aim to reduce the growing ‘deficits’ of the system. Reductions in the scope of benefits can be expected from the ongoing reforms. Though the Brazilian social security system has made great progress and acquired universal contours by including every category of workers, in practice, it is still very far from being a truly widespread and egalitarian system.