A federal loophole allows American boats to employ workers in the dangerous industry for years at a time - provided they never step foot on shore.

An investigation has uncovered many of the workers live in horrendous conditions, are forced to use buckets instead of toilets and suffering running sores from bed bugs, and are paid as little as 70 cents an hour.

"People say these fishermen can't leave their boats, they're like captives," said U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni in Hawaii.

"But they don't have visas, so they can't leave their boat, really."

Associated Press obtained confidential contracts and interviewed boat owners, brokers and more than 50 fishermen in Hawaii, Indonesia and San Francisco as part of an ongoing global look at labour abuses in the fishing industry.

Last year, the AP reported about fishermen locked in a cage and buried under fake names on the remote Indonesian island village of Benjina.

Their catch was traced to the United States, leading to more than 2,000 slaves being freed.

But thousands more remain trapped worldwide in an industry where work takes place far from shore and often without oversight.

On some boats the fishermen are paid as little as $350 a month, but many make $500 to $600.

A lucky few get a percentage of the catch, making it possible to triple their wages.

The men are willing to give up their freedom to take these jobs because the pay is better than they can make back home in developing countries where many people live on less than $1 a day.

Source

• thedailymail.co.uk
• Image: thedailymail.co.uk

The conference of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Workers heard that fishing crew are particularly susceptible to exploitation by certain ship owners, brokers and recruitment agencies because of a background of poverty, inexperience and a degree of naivety amongst some migrant workers.

"Crew on fishing vessels permanently based on the high seas are unlikely to report abuse, injury or death or otherwise seek help for their own protection" said Father Giacomo Martino, a consultor to the council.

"Fishermen often have to surrender identity documentation to their master so mobility in port is restricted; their isolation is further compounded by the difficulty or lack of communication with family whilst at sea due to the lack of access to mobile or satellite phones."

Father Martino, a former port chaplain and former Italian national director of the global seafarers' charity Apostleship of the Sea, said a further factor contributing to the vulnerability of these people is the irregularity of their salary, together with a lack of transparency, and the fact that often the workers are paid literally with a share of the catch, which encourages them to work excessive hours.

He lamented the lack of significant progress since the publication in 2001 of Ships, Slaves and Competition, by Peter Morris. This report stated that 10-15 per cent of global seafarers work in conditions of modern slavery.

He said he hoped the Maritime Labour Convention, which comes into force in August this year, will establish minimum standards regarding social security, conditions of employment and welfare conditions on board.

Father Martino said the crew of fishing vessels based on the high seas are "like ghosts touching our cities daily, emerging from ships for the procedure of signing in, or for a quick phone call home, to disappear immediately inside the metal sheets like cockroaches struck by light; always strangers in every port."

Source:

Independent Catholic News

Image: Safety4Sea