The EU-funded ILO Ship to Shore Rights Project conducted the baseline research on Thai fishing and seafood industry in March and April 2017. The research surveyed 434 workers in 11 provinces within Chonburi, Chumporn, Pattani, Phang Nga, Phuket, Rayong, Samut Sakhon, Songkla, Surat Thani, Trang and Ranong provinces. Workers surveyed were divided almost evenly between those who work in fishing and seafood processing (which included aquaculture.) The research covered workers recent experience in the industry on recruitment, wages, hours, safety and health, support services, complaint mechanisms, living conditions, forced labour indicators, and legal compliance levels.

This research provides a glimpse into a far-reaching and well-entrenched
criminal industry operating alongside the legitimate fishing industry, and often
overlapping. The situation represents the spread of transnational organized
crime at sea and the threat it poses as a maritime security threat to nations, and
a human security threat to fishers, seafarers and fishing communities.

My purpose in inviting a discussion on crew conditions in the Pacific Islands comes from three directions. One path is fisheries and environment, another is job security and food supply, a third is human rights. Thus, the content of this paper is arranged under those three ‘directions’, each with a passable level of information. The link between the three is clear. Participants may judge them as reasonable or unreasonable but they are aimed at the survival and achievement of the fishery which future depends on the resource, access to markets, and the vessel crews.

This book chapter explores the issue of trafficking at sea. In this chapter, NEXUS shares the experiences of forty-six trafficked Ukrainian seafarers and fishers. It describes how Ukrainian men were recruited, transported and severely exploited, as well as their experiences of escape from trafficking and their subsequent reintegration into their families and societies. In considering limitations in the identification of and assistance to the trafficked Ukrainian seafarers/fishers, the chapter outlines key challenges in the protection of trafficked seafarers and fishers and intervention needs and opportunities in combating trafficking at sea. While highlighting the specific and unique aspects of the Ukrainian experience, the chapter will also be of interest to those considering forced labor on board seagoing vessels more generally that is occurring around the world.

Trafficking for forced labor, including trafficking for labor in the merchant shipping and fishing industries, has been increasingly recognized as a major form of human trafficking. Reported cases signal that there are aspects of the commercial fishing and seafaring sectors which may lend themselves particularly to trafficking abuses. This paper explores and discusses the experiences of trafficked Ukrainian seafarers and fishers in order that anti-trafficking policies and programs can take into account their experiences and needs. While the stories of these trafficked Ukrainian seafarers and fishers highlight some unique experiences, many of the issues raised in this report have wider application to incidences of trafficking at sea around the world.

In this article, NEXUS frames what constitutes trafficking at sea, both in the commercial fishing sector and in the merchant fleet and presents the legal and regulatory framework to combat trafficking at sea – namely, international anti-trafficking law, international maritime law and the international law of the sea. The article considers the “three P paradigm” of anti-trafficking (that is, prevention, protection and prosecution) and how improved policies, regulation, legislation and enforcement have the potential to contribute to an improved situation for seafarers and fishers—to both prevent and combat trafficking in commercial fishing and the merchant fleet.

This study discusses the trafficking of men in the fishing industry. It focuses on Cambodian men severely exploited in South African waters. Through extensive interviews, NEXUS reveals the stories of how the men were recruited and transported as well as their trafficking experiences at sea. The study also discusses how these trafficked fishers were (or, more commonly, were not) identified as trafficking victims and what assistance they did (or did not) receive when they escaped and returned home to Cambodia and sought to reintegrate into their families and communities. The Executive Summary is available in Khmer.