A senior cardinal has warned of the human and economic cost of exploitation in the “deadly” fishing industry. With the pandemic straining already weak regulatory and support frameworks for fisherfolk, Cardinal Peter Turkson noted, the pay and working conditions of those employed at sea are under serious threat.
“Unless we draw our attention to these continuous abuses and violations at sea and work together to create a fishing industry where the human and labor rights of the fishers are guaranteed and promoted, it might become more difficult to eradicate it,” he wrote in his message for World Fisheries day. “The human and economic cost for the industry would be very high”.
Turkson, Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, added that bad conditions, hazardous journeys, and sometimes violent clashes with other seafarers made the industry a “deadly” one – with over 24,000 deaths each year. The industry was rife with unscrupulous fishing vessel owners who participate in illegal fishing and transnational criminal activities, such as trafficking in drugs, weapons and even human beings.
Lauding the chaplains and volunteers of the Church’s Stella Maris ministry to seafarers, and the supporters of other organisations fighting for the rights of sailors and fisherfolk, the Cardinal called for sweeping reforms of the fishing industry.
“Our indignation for the many human rights violations at sea should be transformed into a new strength” pressuring the industry “to place respect of the human and labour rights of fishers at the centre of its interests”.
The cardinal’s comments were welcomed by Stella Maris UK, currently celebrating its centenary year. Their chief executive officer Martin Foley, speaking to the Tablet, drew attention to the Cardinal’s focus on the rights of fishers, noting that few states have ratified laws protecting rights, and that even fewer states are actively enforcing.
By way of an example, he pointed to an ongoing case of modern slavery Stella Maris has been involved with over the course of 2021. Forced to work 20 hours a day, and eat, sleep, shower and contact their family in the four hours remaining to them, the crew of the fishing vessel, based out of Scotland, were subject to physical, emotional, verbal and racial abuse.
Deacon Nick O’Neill, a Stella Maris port chaplain, was contacted by crew members and ensured that police and port authorities could intervene in the situation.
Finding crew members emergency shelter, feeding them, buying them footwear, arranging spiritual support and legal representation, Stella Maris enabled the exploited seafarers to escape from that situation. As conditions improve for seafarers, and crucial in-person visits can resume by Stella Maris and other humanitarian organisation, the challenge, Foley said, is to be more effective advocates for the “all too often severely neglected” rights of fisherfolk when few other avenues of support exist.
The coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on a British fishing industry already struggling under the impact of storms throughout 2020.
Domestically, the UK fishing industry experienced a drop of 368,000 fishing hours in last year, or 16.5 per cent compared with 2019. Further afield, other seafaring nations ran into similar difficulties, with China experiencing a fall of 2 million fishing hours, a drop of 13.5 per cent from pre-pandemic figures. Overall, fishing activity was down five per cent globally in 2020 compared with the previous year, according to figures collated by Global Fishing Watch.
In some areas, the figure could be far higher, with one study estimating fishing dropped 50 and even 80 per cent in the Adriatic sea during lockdown.