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The Vatican is calling for a renewed commitment to ensure the world’s fishers and their families are not isolated and exploited.
“Fishing is recognized as one of the most dangerous professions in the world with hundreds of lives lost at sea every year and many more affected by occupational hazards, (and) Fishers can be easily exploited, abused and become victims of trafficking and forced labour”, the Vatican says in a statement released by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.
Calling for more states to ratify a 2007 treaty, the Work in Fishing Convention, the Council’s president, Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio describes the convention as a useful tool to improve the working conditions of fishers and enhance their working conditions.
The Work in Fishing Conventions addresses matters such as a minimum age for work on a fishing vessel, medical standards, work agreements, occupational safety and health, and social security.
As of May 2014 the convention has been ratified by Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo, Morocco and South Africa.
Noting that fishing has been a source of food for people and employs many millions of people, the pontifical council also calls for greater respect for the environment, and of the dangers of over-fishing.
“However, as we have reached a critical point, it is necessary to practice responsible fishing and respect nature; the risk is that within a limited period of time many coastal communities that are relying on fishing for their subsistence and economy, will lose their source of livelihood,” the commission said.
The Pontifical Council released the message for World Fisheries Day, commemorated on 21 November.
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