After a warm welcome by the Marine Department of the Thai Ministry of Transport and Cadets of the Asian Maritime Technological College, during two full days, specialist from all over the world[1] gathered to tackle one endemic problem in the fishing industry: Safety. 100.000 Fishing-related deaths occur each year[2], the vast majority happening in Asia and Africa, particularly in inland and coastal fisheries. In other words, every 5 minutes, a fisherman or woman passes away. According to Europêche, it is regrettable that international instruments aimed at protecting the life of 35 million people working in the fishing sector have not been widely ratified.

One of the main goals of this conference was to engage with stakeholders in Asia in the work of advocating human and labour rights for fishers and to support the development of pathways to ensure workers’ protection. By way of example, in the Thai fishing industry, on average 60% of fishermen working on their vessels originally come from neighbour countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. As in the EU, Thailand is dealing with a lack of motivation among the new generation to join the industry. A challenge for Thailand remains the ratification of key conventions for the safety of fishing vessels (Torremolinos Convention) and for training and certification (STCW-F). However, the country was the first in Asia to ratify the ILO Work in Fishing Convention (C188) aimed at protecting the living and working conditions of fishers on board of vessels.

At the conference, Rosalie Tukker, Senior Policy Advisor of Europêche, spoke about the importance of social dialogue and its ability to together with the workers address the gaps in the social dimension of fisheries and lead international effort to improve safety and working conditions, making key stakeholders aware of the human side of the sector, which is often forgotten.

Ms Tukker, declared: “Fishing is significantly safer in Europe, but it remains a global concern particularly in developing countries. For Europêche it is an absolute priority to protect the lives of those working at sea. Fishing stands at the beginning of an international seafood supply chain. Seafood remains one of the most traded commodities in the world and that concerns the EU market. We strive to make sure that fish products are harvested with high standards of safety and due respect to human and labour rights”.

Europêche, under the leadership of the FISH Platform will continue to provide a stage for all who wish to improve fishers’ lives and aims on working more closely in the future with Asian countries towards that goal.

[1] Experts from the UN specialised agency International Labour Organization (ILO), the Japan Agency for Maritime Education and Training for Seafarers, Stella Maris, the UN specialised agency International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Nautical Institute, Novikontas SCM, the Seafarers’ Charity, the Institute for Marine Science and Fishing Technology in Vietnam, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the International Ocean Institute in Singapore, the Outlaw Ocean Project, and Europêche.

[2] FISH Safety Foundation, Fisher Mortality Brief, November 2022 (Commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts) via https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2022/11/fisher-mortality-brief.pdf.

Press contacts:

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche +32 2 230 48 48 daniel.voces@europeche.org

EP Press Release – FISH Platform Conference Thailand

Voluntary social standards and certifications were recognised as drivers of sustainable economic development and a vital instruments to support learning, dialogue and trust-building between companies and stakeholders. However, Social Partners agreed on the fundamental principle that private labels can never go below the internationally recognised social standards set in ILO Convention C188.

“ILO C188 contains the minimum compulsory requirements to be respected and should be included in full, avoiding any cherry-picking in any voluntary certification scheme. The private labels which do not cover those minimum standards, should not be recognised as socially sustainable. So, any social-washing labels from 3^rd countries shall be left out of the single market”, said Juan Manuel Trujillo, ETF Fisheries Section Chair.

Europêche’s spokesperson in the European social dialogue, Ment van der Zwan, added: “In a highly competitive market for sustainable seafood products, admitting sub-standard certification schemes as socially sustainable would expose EU fishermen and companies to unfair competition. EU consumers would as well be highly misguided by the information provided by the label. Customers may chose a product labelled as socially sustainable, that in reality is not, over an European product with no such label but that by definition has to comply with higher social standards. It would be illogical and a commercial ruse.”

EP and ETF Press Release – Social Certification

Sea fishing is a remote profession and therefore deprived from immediate medical assistance at a level shore-based people can rely on. In relation with the relevant safety challenges performing their work at sea, it’s important that fishers on board fishing vessels are qualified and fit for their duties. This reality is well recognised by international and European legislation[1] which require fishers to hold a valid medical certificate issued in accordance with their provisions.

In practice, however, despite the obligation for fishers to hold a medical certificate, there are no specific international guidelines for the medical examination of fishers, in stark contrast with merchant seafarers.

“In the making of international medical guidelines for the examination of seafarers, fishers were shockingly excluded. While certain countries apply guidelines for seafarers to fishers, those guidelines haven’t been designed with that goal in mind, and they don’t completely fit specificities of sea fishing”, said Ment van der Zwan, Europêche Spokesperson in European social dialogue.

European social partners, the ETF and Europêche, have been working together with the International Maritime Health Association (IMHA) on closing this gap in international occupational health and have now published guidelines for fishers and their specific working environment.

“In such a physically-demanding job, the existence of specific guidelines for medical examination of workers is a must. We hope that these new guidelines will be used as a tool by doctors performing medical examinations to have a clear understanding of the unique aspects of fishing, as their professional judgement is critical to the health and safety of fishers. Competent authorities should also harmonise the criteria used for the medical checks of fishers and thereafter mutually recognise certificates of medical fitness. The increasing internationalisation of fishing makes such harmonisation even more important.” underlined Juan Manuel Trujillo, ETF Fisheries Section Chair.

The ETF and Europêche will continue to promote the harmonisation of standards for the medical examinations of fishers at European and International level. Using harmonised approaches and carrying out systematic monitoring programs will be vital in improving fishers’ health and safety.

[1] ILO Work in Fishing Convention C188, the EU Council Directive 2017/159 and STCW-F.

Guidelines on medical examinations of fishers

Press contacts:

Rosalie Tukker: Policy Advisor of Europêche, rosalie.tukker@europeche.org

Andrea Albertazzi: Fisheries Policy Officer of ETF, a.albertazzi@etf-europe.org

EP and ETF Press Release – Medical Guidelines

The European social partners in the sea fisheries sector concluded back in 2012 an agreement on the implementation of the ILO C188, which triggered its transposition into EU law through an EU Directive (Directive 2017/159). The EU Law provides worldwide access to decent working and living conditions for fishermen aboard EU vessels. However, the sector recalls that in order to create an international level playing field, it is equally important to ratify the C188, for which the number of signing countries remain insufficient, also at European level.

Cor Blonk, Chair of the European Sea Fisheries Social Dialogue Committee: “At present, only 18 countries worldwide have ratified the ILO C188, 7 of which are EU Member States. If we compare this with the equivalent for merchant shipping, we see that 97 countries have ratified the Maritime Labour Convention, including 25 out of the 27 EU Member States”. Given the aforementioned, ETF and Europêche believed it is high time to address the practical dimension and concrete challenges on the ratification of the Convention with the aid of the valuable expertise of the invited panellists.

In this sense, Juan Manuel Trujillo, President of the European Transport Workers’ Federation Fisheries Section, declared: “It is fundamental for EU Member States to ratify the ILO C188 as it would align the legislation on decent work to a common level and with the EU Directive. Consequently, fishers’ wages and working conditions would be protected and couldn’t be used to compensate for the ever more pressing global competition between fishing companies and fleets. Above all, it would encourage third countries which have a relevant share of the fishing sector and more problems when it comes to the protection of fishers’ rights to do the same”.

Ment van der Zwan, employers’ spokesman in the EU social dialogue committee on sea-fisheries, concurred: “There is urgent need to ratify the ILO C188 to ensure a level playing field and fair competition among fishing companies across the world, especially considering the strong international dimension of the fishing sector. Even more when the EU equivalent law does not cover in its integrity self-employed fishermen given the limited EU competence on this field. Therefore, transposing the Directive is a huge step forward but not enough, and should go hand in hand with the ratification of ILO C188”.

The ILO representative, Mr Brandt Wagner, gave a comprehensive overview on the origin and history of the C188 stressing the fundamental importance of its ratification. The European Commission outlined where the EU Directive adds or varies from the provisions of the Convention, and highlighted how the current status of the implementation in EU Member States showcases the need for further promotion and facilitation of the Convention and linkage with the Directive.

Press contacts:

Rosalie Tukker, Policy Advisor of Europêche: rosalie.tukker@europeche.org

Andrea Albertazzi, Fisheries Policy Officer of ETF: a.albertazzi@etf-europe.org

EP and ETF Press Release – Social Partners C188 Webinar