Minority of seafarers subject to racial abuse and violence, reports Stella Maris

Since 2017, the charity has been aiding Vishal Sharma who arrived in England expecting to work on an oil tanker, but found himself working 18-20 hour days on a Scottish scallop dredger.

A minority of seafarers on British shores are victims of physical, mental and racial abuse and exploitation, according to a Catholic charity. 

Tim Hill, chief executive of Stella Maris, told The Tablet that while “the vast majority of fishing firms and skippers look after and treat their crews well”, a “minority” exploited or subjected seafarers to forced labour or abuse. Some seafarers endure beatings on board or are threatened with baseball bats.

Hill added that such seafarers endure dreadful working conditions ranging from bad food and little clean, potable water to excessive working days and minimal rest-time.

The police sometimes contact Stella Maris to ask them to provide shelter and food to exploited crew members after arresting abusive skippers. The charity also gives seafarers pastoral and spiritual support.

Since 2017, it has been aiding Vishal Sharma who arrived in England expecting to work on an oil tanker. Instead, he found himself working 18-20 hour days on a Scottish scallop dredger. 

After being found by British immigration officials, Sharma was recognised as a trafficking victim and given permission to stay while helping police probe alleged modern slavery in Scotland’s fishing fleet. When his leave to remain expired in 2023, he sought asylum. By then he was married with a child. The Home Office rejected Sharma’s claim, refusing him the right to appeal. 

Hill had not seen the Home Office documentation but said Stella Maris was “saddened and disappointed” by the decision, adding: “Vishal believes it would be fundamentally unsafe for him to return to India because he was in debt bondage.”

Hill said most seafarers were “honest, decent” foreign workers who did not want to settle in the UK, only “earn their keep” and return home. 

Stella Maris is currently assisting seafarers in Northern Ireland, who, after escaping exploitation on a trawler, are helping the Police Service of Northern Ireland pursue an investigation. Hill said: “We want to support them to see a successful prosecution. This is needed as a deterrent to stop this despicable forced labour and exploitation.” 

He urged the Home Office to “speed up” investigations of exploitation in the fishing sector. 

“Human rights abuses are not occurring in some remote far-flung places of the world but here in the UK,”  added Hill, who said Britons owed a “debt of gratitude” to seafarers who “fulfil a vital economic function” by providing food while labouring in “one of the world’s most dangerous industries”.

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