What does overfishing have to do with forced labour? A lot more than you might think. Consider this. Declining fish stocks, increased competition and pressure on costs leads unscrupulous vessel owners to fish further out in the high seas, and cut wages, food and accommodation costs. To keep workers in these worsening conditions and to entice new workers, some are resorting to deceit, threats, isolation and other actions that meet indicators of forced labour. That’s why the ILO 8.7 Accelerator Lab and Sectoral Policies Department are working closely with Regional Fisheries Bodies to connect the dots between these two issues.

Ocean health is paramount for the planet and the future of all civilisations and is dependent on sustainably managed fisheries. Regional Fisheries Bodies such as the FCWC, which comprises six West African countries: Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Togo, have been set up to ensure a coordinated approach to fisheries management and ocean protection. Fish do not care for national boundaries and so no country can govern their maritime domains and protect fish stocks occurring therein without coordinated efforts with their neighbours. The same goes for labour law on board fishing vessels. If one country ratifies the ILO Work in Fishing Convention C188 and the Forced Labour Protocol P29, that’s very positive, but non-compliant vessels can always reflag or sail next door to neighbouring countries and continue exploiting workers. To truly protect these fishermen and to make the market fair for law abiding vessels owners, we absolutely need a regional approach.

Networks and Organisations such as the FCWC bring neighbouring governments together to ensure a coordinated approach to combatting IUU fishing to protect ocean health, livelihoods for fishing communities and income for businesses in the fishing industry. To coordinate regional action against IUU fishing, the FCWC established a Working Group, known as the West Africa Task Force (WATF). It facilitates the sharing of intelligence and information between fisheries enforcement officers, national agencies, experts and other stakeholders, supported by practical tools including satellite technology, to spur actions against illegal fishing operators and ultimately contributes to improved compliance.

What if all these resources and attention were also deployed to protect the fishers on board? Recently, the FCWC has established a Regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Centre to address major national, regional and global challenges in the effort to stop IUU fishing and related fisheries crimes, including forced labour and trafficking in persons. “We share our fish stocks with our neighbours and so we need cooperation and shared management of these resources”, explained Mr Séraphin Dedi, Secretary-General of the FCWC. “There is no reason why we can’t do the same to protect fishers from our region and overseas.. We’re optimistic about the progress we can make with the support of the ILO to improve working conditions along the fisheries value chain ”

With the MoU signed, the ILO and FCWC will work together to:

1. Raise awareness of FCWC Contracting Parties on the ILO Convention on Forced Labour (C029) and its 2014 Protocol (P029) as well as the Work in Fishing Convention (C188) and support ratification of these instruments.
2. Promote and incorporate international labour standards in the FCWC strategic instruments and FCWC Contracting Parties’ fisheries policy documents to improve the protection of fishers and fish workers’ labour rights.
3. Explore ways in which fisheries law enforcement tackling IUU fishing can contribute to the detection of forced labour through the work of the FCWC West Africa Task Force, in particular during at-sea and in-port inspections.
4. Explore areas of research on trafficking for forced labour and labour abuse in the fishing sector of FCWC’s Contracting Parties and onboard foreign-flagged fishing vessels calling into FCWC Contracting Parties’ ports.

The ILO has worked with Regional Fisheries Bodies in the past, but this represents a turning point as the 8.7 Accelerator Lab doubles down on coordination efforts in this sphere. “We are blazing trails in a new terrain with this Memorandum of Understanding. I hope that this MoU will be the first of many with Regional Fisheries Bodies. It is noteworthy that the international community is awake to the need to protect the oceans to sustain all life on earth, and is cognizant of the interlinkages between environmental, social issues and economic issues. The ILO remains very committed to this initiative”, says Ms. Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon, the ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) started this trend of incorporating labour rights into the mandates, policies, and action plans of Regional Fisheries Organisations in 2018 with the adoption of a Resolution on Labour Rights for Crew on Fishing Vessels. Aware of the need to further enhance protection of crew, a proposal for a CMM on Safety and Security for Crew on Fishing Vessels has been drafted and will be examined by WCPFC Member States at the annual meeting of the Commission in December 2022. With seed funding from the Norwegian Government, the 8.7 Accelerator Lab aims to pick up the pace in the fight against forced labour in the fishing industry by engaging with other Regional Fisheries Organisations on the same path.

Resources:
To read the Memorandum of Understanding, click here
To find out more about the FCWC, visit www.fcwc-fish.org
To find out more about the 8.7 Accelerator Lab, visit www.ilo.org/87acceleratorlab
To discover more about the ILO’s work on fishing, click here