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.

Guidelines on medical examinations of fishers

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

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Press contacts:

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

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

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EP27 Social Partners Press release Medical Guidelines

The European social partners for fisheries, Europêche and ETF, co-hosted a successful conference yesterday evening in the European Parliament with MEP Ricardo Serrão Santos. The event brought together a wide range of fisheries stakeholders, including representatives of the EU Institutions, industry and civil society with the aim to present and disseminate the results of the EU co-funded project PILLARS OF THE SEA: Joint action of the European Social Partners in the fishing sector.

Safety and health at sea have always been a top priority for both partner organisations involved in the project[1]. With this project our aim was to propose concrete improvements to the EU legal framework that could offer better health, working conditions and safety at sea for Europe’s fishers.

Building on our years of close collaboration and cooperation, we pooled our knowledge and called on the professional expertise a legal expert in social affairs, a naval architect and the French Maritime Institute of Prevention. We were then able to put forward legal recommendations to really improve in fishers’ health and safety at work.

Following the main findings of our research, we particularly recommend that EU policymakers:

1. Transpose the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F) into European legislation to bring greater safety at sea;
2. Propose alternative ways to measure fishing capacity which do not limit improvements in working and living conditions on board fishing vessels;
3. Set a clear set of common rules for the commercialisation and safe use of the deck machinery installed on board.

The implementation of these recommendations would certainly help minimise potential threats to safety of life during fishing operations, increase comfort and also improve the attractiveness of the industry for young people in the EU.

MEP Ricardo Serrão Santos praised the positive results yielded by this project and outlined the value of this event for the European fishing sector, stating: ‘Sustainable fisheries require good working conditions, high levels of safety, environmental protection and operational efficiency. Safety at sea is therefore paramount and everyone’s responsibility. As legislators, we should spare no effort to prevent any accident from happening and ensure that our fishers operate under the best possible safety and working conditions.’

Mr Ment van der Zwan, spokesman of the employers’ group in the Social Dialogue and author of one of the studies, appreciated the efforts made by the European Parliament to place safety at sea at the core of the Common Fisheries Policy. He declared: ‘The safety of human life must be at the forefront of EU legislation to ensure its protection as part of sustainable fishing. For this purpose, EU policies must be aligned with international standards on training and certification. It would be a huge step forward transposing into European legislation the STCW-F Convention, as recommended in my report. This instrument would bridge the legal gaps at EU level on harmonised training standards, recognition of certificates and free movement of workers.’    

Fleming Smidt, workers’ spokesman in the EU social dialogue committee on sea-fisheries, concluded: ‘We invite policymakers to transpose the policy recommendations provided in these studies into legislative realities to make progress on the social dimension of fisheries and ensure a true level of sustainability in the EU.’

About the project

The project partially implements the work programme of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Sea Fishing in order to significantly make progress in various key areas of interest for Social Partners. Consequently, the European Social Partners have produced three different studies with the aim to contribute to ameliorate EU legislation regarding training, safety, accommodation, business efficiency and free movement of workers which will ultimately offer to our fishermen a healthier and safer working environment, better skills and competences.

Pillar 1: Constitutes the aim to implement the STCW-F Convention in the EU through a Social Partners’ Agreement, as the lack of a common standard for the training and certification of fishers in the EU is a safety risk.

Pillar 2: Contains an analysis of the EU rule limiting increase in fishing capacity by imposing ceilings on gross tonnage and propulsion power. The outputs are a paper on the impact of the ceiling on working and living conditions and fishing vessel safety and productivity of the enterprises, as well as proposals and recommendations for possible solutions.

Pillar 3: Consist of a survey on the legislation in force in the EU regarding deck machinery. The results are recommendations for possible standardization of the rules in terms of commercialization, installation and safe use on board of fishing vessels.

Press contacts:

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

Livia Spera, ETF Political Secretary +32 470 93 05 89 l.spera@etf-europe.org

[1] http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=480&langId=en&intPageId=1851

In this context, the European Social Partners have produced three different studies with the aim to contribute to ameliorate EU legislation regarding training, safety, accommodation, business efficiency and free movement of workers which will ultimately offer to our fishermen a healthier working environment, better skills and decent work.

Pillar 1: Constitutes the aim to implement the STCW-F Convention in the EU through a Social Partners’ Agreement, as the lack of a common standard for the training and certification of fishers in the EU is a safety risk.  

Pillar 2: Contains an analysis of the EU rule limiting increase in fishing capacity by imposing ceilings on gross tonnage and propulsion power. The outputs are a paper on the impact of the ceiling on working and living conditions and fishing vessel safety and productivity of the enterprises, as well as proposals and recommendations for possible solutions

Pillar 3: Consist of a survey on the legislation in force in the EU regarding deck machinery. The results are recommendations for possible standardization of the rules in terms of commercialization, installation and safe use on board of fishing vessels.

Final results of each study can be found attached to this post.

Attachments PDF:

COFI is a forum where global agreements and instruments are at the heart of the discussions, thereby creating the perfect platform to get the message on the social dimension of fisheries across all countries.

Following a brief overview of existing legislation at international and regional level, high-ranked panellists provided advice on how to overcome obstacles and shortcomings to better protect fishers and fight against IUU fishing, which is widely associated with crimes involving the safety and welfare of crews. Key speakers from the fishing industry (employers, trade unions), the civil society (The Pew Charitable Trusts) and international organisations such as FAO, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea instruments showed the actions and tools implemented by their organisations to improve and raise awareness on the social dimension of fisheries.

There was a unanimous call towards widespread ratification of the international instruments for safety at sea in fishing and the protection of fishers’ lives. In this sense, Ment van der Zwan, employers’ spokesman in the EU social dialogue committee on sea-fisheries declared: “We urge UN agencies to establish a focus working group to identify what needs to be done, time frames, roles and responsibilities for the various stakeholders. Only through a solid roadmap we will be able to close the gap and better understand how to implement such measures.”

Fleming Smidt, workers’ spokesman in the EU social dialogue committee on sea-fisheries, concluded: “International actors cannot continue working in silos. The cooperation between international bodies, governments and stakeholders is fundamental to make fishing a well-regulated, safe and responsible activity. We therefore invite policy-makers to lay the foundations, and make progress on the social dimension of fisheries to ensure a true level of sustainability at global level.”

Ends

Europêche represents the fisheries sector in Europe. Currently, the Association comprises 10 national organisations of fishing enterprises from the following 8 EU Member States: DE, ES, FR, IT, MT, NL, LV, and PL.

The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) embraces transport trade unions from the European Union, the European Economic Area and Central and Eastern European countries. The ETF represents more than 5 million transport workers from more than 230 transport unions and 42 European countries.

Press contacts:

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

Livia Spera, ETF Political Secretary                                  +32 470 93 05 89 l.spera@etf-europe.org

Background information

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is very clear towards the obligations of every flag state. They have the duty to ensure their vessels’ safety at sea with regard, inter alia, to (a) the construction, equipment and seaworthiness of ships, (b) the manning of ships, (c) the labour conditions of their crews, and (d) the training of their crews.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), all specialized agencies of the United Nations, have indeed developed and adopted international instruments on all four duty areas for fishing.

Particularly, IMO Cape Town Agreement 2012 (safe construction); ILO Work in Fishing C188, 2007 (manning and labour conditions); IMO STCW‐F, 1995 (safety and training); FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and Agreement on Port State Measures (responsible fishing), are the foundations for the protection of fishermen across the world. These Conventions are either not into force or poorly ratified by the international community. The European Union is leading the way by transposing into Community law many of these Conventions.

The aim of this event is to provide practical expert advice to and from international and national policy-makers, industry and NGOs to develop a roadmap towards widespread ratification of the international instruments for safety at sea in fishing, the protection of fishers’ lives and fight against IUU. It will also serve to create awareness on the need to ensure a socially, environmentally and commercially sustainable fisheries; thereby influencing the COFI discussions.

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