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On many fishing boats, men and boys struggle under the threat of violence. Credit: ILO.
Labor abuses, including modern slavery, are "hidden subsidies" that allow distant-water fishing fleets to remain profitable and promote overfishing, a new research from the University of Western Australia and the The sea around us initiative of the University of British Columbia found.
By combining the fishing data of the The sea around us Researchers have found that countries whose fleets rely heavily on government subsidies, fish far from the original ports and fail to fully report their actual catches, tend to fish beyond sustainable limits, and are at greater risk. high level of work abuse.
"Ships' crews from China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Russia are particularly vulnerable to the risk of lack of regulatory oversight in these countries, combined with the complexities of offshore jurisdiction. to make it easier for people to work too long hours, often in appalling conditions, to extract as much fish as possible in exchange for little or no pay, "said David Tickler, lead author of the study's University of Western Australia.
While global marine fish catches have declined by 1.2 million tonnes per year since the mid-1990s, the only way for industrialized fleets to remain "profitable" is to receive public subsidies. However, labor costs can usually be reduced only by reducing the wages and working conditions of the workers.
"The lack of control over these boats makes it a fertile ground for work abuses, as well as for other offenses, including illegal fishing, and also facilitates trans-shipment, where catches of several fishing vessels are often Combined before landing, to whiten the conditions of modern slavery, it is mixed with legally caught fish before it enters the supply chain, "said Daniel Pauly, co-author of the report. study and principal investigator of the The sea around us Initiative of the Institute of Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia.
This is as well as 'low-risk' slavery markets, such as the United States, the European Union and Australia, end up consuming seafood products likely to Have been captured by modern slaves.
"While the average risk of slavery is low in the United States, the United States accounts for about 14% of the world's imports of seafood. These imports pose a 17-fold risk of slavery. fish caught by US fleets, "said co-author Dirk. Zeller, chief of the The sea around us – Indian Ocean Initiative at UWA.
Once imported seafood is combined in local markets with fish caught by the US fleet, "seafood available to domestic consumers in the United States is eight times more likely to have been produced or processed with modern slavery .This makes the choice between sustainability and social justice very difficult, "said Jessica Meeuwig, director of the Marine Futures Lab at UWA and co-author of the study.
As a result of these findings, the researchers called for stronger national laws so that the environmental and social elements of the sustainability of seafood supply chains can be audited in a transparent manner. "This would place increased responsibility on the large seafood companies that are often best able to influence supplier behavior and who, perhaps unknowingly, are currently benefiting from modern slavery. "said Fiona David, director of research at the Walk Free Foundation, the architects of the Global Slavery Index.
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