1

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Background

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in (Levin, 2017) estimates that

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU) accounts for nearly one third of the

world’s seafood catch and is valued at up to $23 billion USD per year globally. The

International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) and the

North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEFC) in (Liddick, 2011, p. 71),

respectively found that 25,000 tons (18%) of all fishing for tuna in 2001–2002 was

likely attributable to illicit fishing, and 27% of redfish caught in 2002 was landed by

IUU ships. In some imperative fisheries, illicit activity accounts for conceivably 30%

of total catches, and in certain ports, a roughly estimation revealed that 50% of all fish

are harvested illegally.

A recent reports indicate that forced labour and human trafficking in the

fisheries sector are taken a place. These reports stated that labor in fisheries, many of

them are migrant workers, are vulnerable to severe forms of human rights abuse on

board fishing vessels. Migrant workers in particular are vulnerable to being deceived

and coerced by brokers and illegal recruitment agencies. These labor are then forced to

work on board vessels under the threat of physical abuse and even murder, another

more subtle threat through manipulated debt bondage (ILO, 2015).

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One of the most jaw-dropping modern slavery issue is happened in Indonesia,

where foreign media investigations pioneered by the Associated Press (due to this

investigation, The AP received Pulitzer Award for Public Services in 2016) found that

thousands of poor migrant fishermen, mostly from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos,

were recruited by Thailand fishing company and transported to Indonesia using

counterfeit travel documents where they were subjected to brutal labor abuses from

Thai fishing captain. Some had been enslaved for years or more than 2 decades. The

Associated Press, during its investigation in Benjina Island, found some men locked in

a confinement and a company cemetery with dozens of bodies buried under fake names

(The Guardian, 2016).

From the mentioned data above, therefore, the writer wants to analyze the

labour practices in off-shore fisheries in general but with specific attention to Benjina

case in Indonesia. Along this line, the writer also wants to shed light on several actions

that have been taken by the involved-stakeholders addressing modern slavery practices

in fishing industries.

Research Question

1. How could modern slavery persist in fishing industry? What are the factors

contributing to modern slavery in fishing industry in general and in particular

to Benjina Island?

2. What actions that have been taken by the international community and the

involved countries (Indonesia and Thailand) to precipitate the end of modern

slavery in fishing industry?

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CHAPTER 2

Finding and Analysis

What is IUU Fishing?

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a global problem that

threatens a broad range of fish species and fishing stocks (Liddick, 2011, p. 71). Illicit

fishing practices have hastened the downfall of some fish populations, particularly the

lucrative fish species for instance Tuna and Salmon. Moreover, the negative

consequences of illicit fishing are not simply environmental damage, but include a

range of detrimental economic and social (human) consequences such as, substantial

damage to the food security and livelihood of coastal populations in developing

countries (Liddick, 2011). It also deeply affects human lives when it entails forced

labour of trafficked fishermen (ILO, 2015).

The most direct economic impact of illegal fishing in territorial waters is the loss of
the value of the catch to coastal nations. Loss of gross national product (GNP) is
supplemented by the loss of revenue that could have been generated from legal fishing
vessels. Economic “multiplier effects” on investment and employment are the norm,
and include budget pressure on national economies due to the costs of monitoring and
controlling IUU fishing, a reduction in the value of catches for local fishermen. In
developing nations, particularly along the shorelines, fish is the major source of
protein, the reduction of fish in local markets leads to malnutrition and food insecurity.
Another impact coming from additional human costs which involve in the exploitation
of workers in low-wage countries, who are mostly subjected to dangerous working
conditions and physical abuse (Liddick, 2011, p. 82)

Marine Resources Assessment Group in (Liddick, 2011, p. 72) defines IUU fishing as

“Illegal Fishing, where vessels operate in violation of the laws of a fishery. This can entail
fishing with no license at all, or fishing in contravention of the terms of the license, for
example by using out-lawed fishing gear. This definition is used both for fisheries that are
under the jurisdiction of a coastal State, and for those that are regulated by Regional
 4

Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). Unreported fishing—fishing that has

been unreported or misreported to the relevant national authority or regional fisheries
management organization, in contravention of national and international laws and
regulations. Unregulated fishing—this generally refers to fishing that is conducted by
vessels without nationality, or vessels flying the flag of a State not party to the regional
organization governing the particular fishing region or species. Unregulated fishing can
also relate to fishing in areas or for fish stocks for which there is a lack of detailed
knowledge of the resource, and therefore no conservation or management resources in
place. In both these cases, vessels must be fishing in a manner that violates the
conservation and management measures of the regional organization, and/or international
law, to warrant inclusion under the term “unregulated fishing.”

What is the Relation between IUU Fishing and Modern Slavery?

Hitherto, there is no globally agreed definition on what modern slavery is. The

United States Department of States stated that “Trafficking in persons,” “human

trafficking,” and “modern slavery” are used as umbrella terms to refer compelled labor,

as the statement following below:

“Forced labor, sometimes also referred to as labor trafficking, encompasses the range of
activities—recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining—involved when
a person uses force or physical threats, psychological coercion, abuse of the legal
process, deception, or other coercive means to compel someone to work… Migrants are
particularly vulnerable to this form of human trafficking, but individuals also may be
forced into labor in their own countries.”

From the statement above, the terms seem tangled and intertwining to one

another. The perplexity between modern slavery, human trafficking, and forced labor

and even people smuggling are evident. Therefore, with the purpose to avoid confusion,

the untangled action to define those terms should be conducted before hand.

Commencing with the human trafficking, which to large extents happen when men,

women and children are exploited through the use of violence, deception (particularly
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from the brokers) or coercion and forced to work against their will. A key difference

from people smuggling could be seen from the objective, as trafficking is organized for

the purpose of exploitation. People can be trafficked for many different forms of

exploitation such as forced prostitution, forced labour, forced begging, forced

criminality, domestic servitude, forced marriage, and forced organ removal (World

Economic Forum, 2015). Adding to this, The 2016 Global Slavery Index has been

described slavery as "situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave

because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception". As the world has

shifted from traditional to the more modern fora, the slavery currently has its own

modern form which can include manipulated debt bondage, where a person is coerced

to work for free to pay off the debt, child slavery, forced marriage, domestic servitude

and forced labour, where victims are threatened through the use of violence and

intimidation (BBC, 2016). Conclusively, human trafficking leads into forced labor

which in this article also refers to modern slavery.

ILO defines Forced labour as work that is enacted involuntarily (against the

workers’ will) and under the threat of any penalty. In details, the persons or the workers

are forced to work under the threat of violence or intimidation (ILO, 2012). Many

victims are trapped, often in a foreign country, with their passports confiscated by their

employers or companies, and unable to leave (World Economic Forum, 2015). In legal

means, ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) in (ILO, 2012) describes forced

or compulsory labour as "all work or service which is exacted from any person under
 6

the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself

voluntarily."

A report from collaborative research between International Labour Organization

(ILO), the Walk Free Foundation, the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

and other UN agencies, in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Human

Rights (OHCHR) estimated that in 2016, 40.3 million people are in modern slavery,

including 24.9 million people in forced labour. It means there are 5.4 victims of modern

slavery for every 1,000 people in the world and 1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are

children. Out of the 24.9 million people trapped in forced labour, 16 million people are

exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture;

whereas 4.8 million persons in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million persons in

forced labour endorsed by state authorities (ILO, 2017).

Human trafficking and slavery are serious and devastating global problems. It

is estimated that as many as 35.8 million men, women and children are currently

victims of human trafficking around the world. 'Pirate' fishing and slavery are

transnational crimes that ruin the lives of the many and jeopardize the ecosystems. As

a comprehensive investigations such as from the Associated Press (AP), reports from

various NGOs and research continues to expose the ominous social and ecological

glitches at the root of global seafood supply chains (Environtmental Justice

Foundation, 2015). The connection between illegal fishing and modern slavery, as well

as human trafficking, drug and weapon trafficking and child labour, has been
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meticulously documented and exposed by investigations such as those conducted by

the Associated Press, The New York Times and the Guardian, where the AP as the

pioneer who conduct press reconnaissance received the Pulitzer honor in 2017 (Levin,

2017).

These and succeeding investigations have uncovered wide-ranging evidence of

the immersion of organized and systemic use of modern slavery by vessels betrothed

in illegal fishing. Undocumented migrant workers are being sold, kidnapped and

tricked onto fishing vessels to work as forced labourers or slaves. These accounts have

revealed the existence of ‘prison islands’ (for example Indonesia’s Benjina Island)

where people are isolated (sometimes in confines similar to animal cage at zoo). The

escaped slaves have told how demoralizing human rights violations were, including

whippings with stingray’s tail and in some cases slaughter. The seafood products from

these incriminated vessels were then sold to supply chains of major North American

food sellers, such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Sysco, Nestle and Kroger, as well as pet food

companies, including but not limited to Fancy Feast, Meow Mix and Iams (Levin,

2017).

Picture 1. The slaves in a cage located in Benjina Island, Indonesia

Source: The Associated Press

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As mentioned before more than 40 million people are living in modern slavery,

with Asia as the major contributor, as it accounts for two thirds of the victims (BBC,

2016). In regards to modern slavery in fishing industries located in Asia, a UN survey

in (Levitt, 2016) dating back to 2009 found that nearly two-thirds of migrants aboard

Thai fishing boats were enslaved. Thousands of migrants from Cambodia, Myanmar

and Laos in search of higher-paying jobs were deceived onto Thai fishing boats with

utopian promises about descent jobs with high salary. Many of the enslaved fishermen

were facing abuse, ranging from physical assault to lack of food and sleep (Aljazeera,

2016)

Human rights groups say thousands of people are trafficked and forced to work

on fishing boats owned by Thai companies, where they can be confined for years (some

of them even for 20 years or more) without ever seeing the shore, receiving wages,

getting proper health treatment, and living under inadequate basic needs such as

sanitation and food. Victims also say that those who are caught trying to escape can be

killed and thrown overboard (BBC, 2016).

The factors contributing to modern slavery in fishing industry

Sutton, T. & Siciliano, A. in (Levin, 2017) stated that the pervasiveness of

slavery within seafood supply chains happen for a number of reasons, including:

Difficulty with regulating fishing activities in international waters; Limited

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enforcement capacity and lack of commitment from the governments where abuses are

taking place; Complex and opaque supply chains giving many prospects for illegalities

to be occurred; and High demand for cheap seafood products.

1. Difficulty in regulating fishing activities in international waters and the

existence of Flag of Convenience (FOCs)

Since high seas are res communis, or the common property of all nations,

therefore, no states could exercise their jurisdiction over high seas (Heinzen,

1959). This ‘ungoverned’ area often leads to confusion when it comes to

jurisdictional matters. Under UNCLOS, there are several types of jurisdictions,

i.e. coastal state jurisdiction, port state jurisdiction, and flag state jurisdiction.

On the high seas, the flag state jurisdiction mainly the one to be relied on.

Under international law, the country whose flag a vessel flies is responsible for

that ship. However, the problem appear by the practice of fishing vessels that

fly flags of convenience (FOCs). The FOCs are mainly having insufficient

monitoring, inadequate penalties, tax havens that provide IUU criminals with

low taxes, confidential banking systems (coincidentally, FOCs also having

strong bank secrecy law-tax haven countries) that allow for the formation of

shell companies to launder illicit profits. In regards to modern slavery in fishing

industries, FOC registration could decreases the operating costs for ship

owners, who can avoid regulations related to insurance, crew training, safety

equipment, proper health facilities for the labor, also wages (Liddick, 2011, pp.

78-82) .
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2. Limited enforcement capacity and lack of commitment from the

governments where abuses are taking place

First and foremost, IUU fishing thrives because of a lack of enforcement

capacity. Monitoring and enforcement is very expensive, and many nations

simply lack the resources to effectively control IUU fishing. In the European

Union alone, monitoring fishing among its member states costs up to 300

million euros annually (approximately 5%of the value of all landings) (Liddick,

2011).

In any event, all monitoring is easily eluded, especially when bribery and

corruptions of government officials are taking a place. Corruption and bribery

in national regulatory bodies, and a general lack of assistance from developed

countries are all factors that hinder the implementation of national and

international measures addressing illegal fishing. Moreover, illegal fishing is

more often perpetrated by “legitimate” entities, such as opportunistic corporate

trawlers and corrupt government officials (mainly from developing countries)

willing to devastate fish stocks for ‘dollars’(Liddick, 2011).

3. Complex and opaque supply chains present many opportunities for

illegalities to occur

Trevor Sutton (2016) in his writing stated that some fishing vessels operating

in foreign waters employ slave labor with the aim to reduce the production cost

in order to maximize the profit. A fish caught with slave labor enters the

complex supply chain, where it mixed with legal seafood product. Slave labor

mainly involve in the harvesting step or poaching, where fishing vessels employ
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slave labor to stay on the vessel (at sea) for years and transshipping their catches

to larger vessels in exchange for fuel and other goods. The transshipment

process mostly conducted to avoid port, so the slave labors could remain isolate.

Trevor Sutton (2016) also added that:

“Advances in long-distance transportation and rising consumer demand have transformed

the seafood industry into a complex, globe-spanning web of producers, shippers, and

importers that bears little resemblance to the iconic yellow-capped fishermen of earlier

times. Between catch and consumption, an individual fish can pass through several

middlemen and travel thousands of miles. After harvest, fish are returned to port and often

comingled with thousands of other fish from different vessels. Next, the fish are placed on

ice and trucked to a primary processor, which will fillet, debone, and freeze them. The

altered product, now labeled as originating from the country where the processing plant is

located, is then exported to a wholesale facility or, at times, to a secondary processor for

further refinement into products such as fish sticks and pet food. The wholesale facility,

in turn, sells the product to a wide array of buyers, such as grocery stores and restaurants,

or, potentially, a secondary distributor. In some cases, the product is even re-exported.”

4. High demand for cheap seafood products.

Aforementioned, some fishing vessels operating in foreign waters employ slave

labor with the aim to reduce the production cost as companies are increasingly

motivated to fulfil the demand for cheap seafood market (Pinsky, 2015).

Andrew Crane in (Sutton, 2016) also stated that:

“There is evidence that the depletion of global fish stocks has correlated with the rise in

seafood slavery. Unregulated and illegal fishing tends to deplete nearshore fisheries,

causing fishing fleets to travel longer distances for their catch, which in turn results in

higher fuel and labor costs. Even a small increase in the cost of labor can significantly
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increase the cost of production, leading some fishing companies to take drastic measures

to stay competitive. Without enforcement and oversight, labor costs are the easiest to cut

from the equation, creating an incentive for modern slavery. As fleets travel further from

regulated waters, moreover, it becomes easier to engage in labor abuses without

detection.’’

Case Study: ‘Pirate Fishing’ and Modern Slavery in Benjina Island, Indonesia

Commencing with miserable story from Myint Naing (40), a Burmese, who was

subjected to 22 years of slavery at Benjina Island, Aru Islands, Indonesia. He told the

reporters from the Associated Press that the captains on their fishing boats forced them

to drink unclean water and work 20- to 22-hour shifts with no days off. Almost all, he

said were kicked, whipped with toxic stingray tails or otherwise beaten if they

complained or tried to rest. They were paid little or nothing, as they pulled heavy nets

with squid, shrimp, snapper, grouper and other fish (MacDowell, et al., 2015).

This jaw-dropping evidence of massive slavery happened in the remote islands

of eastern part of Indonesia, precisely in Benjina Island, Aru Islands (part of Maluku

province) about 400 miles away from the northern part of Australia.

Thousands of migrant workers like Myint are tricked or sold into the seafood

industry. This brutal trade that has operated for decades in Southeast Asia’s waters,

where deceitful companies rely on slaves to supply fish to lucrative market worldwide

(Mason, 2015).
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Picture 2. Map of Benjina Island

Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-news/509285/slave-labour-
fish-indonesia-to-thailand-to-us

The Arafura Sea provides some of the world’s richest and most diverse fishing

grounds, crowding with mackerel, tuna, squid and many other lucrative species

(MacDowell, et al., 2015). The fishing grounds are Indonesian, but the illegal fishing

fleets are from Thailand, poaching the fish without permit (or using fraud document)

(Willlmott, 2015). In the last year, over 2,000 men have come forward who were

enslaved on Thai fishing boats in Indonesian waters, working for as long as a decade

without pay (Aljazeera, 2016).

Former slave who came from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand,

claimed they have experienced brutal working conditions, including: forced

confinement, forced labor, non-payment of salaries, excessive working hours, and

psychological and physical abuse- torture. Many were abandoned by their Thai captain

and unable to return to their home countries. Some had been living in Benjina for over

10 years and even 20 years or more (International Organization for Migration, 2015).
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Based on a report from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) called

“Pirates and Slaves,” Thailand currently is the world’s third-largest seafood exporter,

with a total catch valued at $7 billion in 2013 and $7.3 billion dollars in 2011, and

around a fifth of the catch ends up on American dinner tables particularly tuna,

sardines, shrimp and squid., and approximately 39 percent of the $1.6 billion worth of

wild-caught seafood entering the U.S. market from Thailand has been caught illegally

(Campbell, 2014).

In fact, the catch per unit of effort (CPUE) in Thailand has dropped by nearly

90 percent since 1966, making Thai waters one of the most overfished regions on the

planet (Willlmott, 2015). Therefore, in order to fulfill the market demand while fish

resources have been exhausted at home, Thailand fishing companies poached fish from

other region. Realizing that Indonesia has some of the world's richest fishing grounds

due to its geographical advantage completed with its weak government at that time,

was seeing as a ‘good combination’ to conduct IUU fishing for the sake of ‘green

dollar’. The Indonesian government estimates billions of dollars in seafood are stolen

from its waters by foreign fishing vessel every year (Macfarlan, 2015).

As mentioned earlier, for the U.S., Thailand is one of its top seafood suppliers, and

buys about 20 percent of the Thailand’s $7 billion annual exports in the industry. In 2015,

the US blacklisted Thailand for lacking to meet minimum standards in fighting human

trafficking followed by comprehensive investigation from the Associated Press bear out
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Thailand’s seafood industry is largely run off the backs of migrant laborers (MacDowell,

et al., 2015),

The modern slavery in Benjina island could happen for some reason, here are

some of them:

1. The involvement of deceitful broker

Thousands of migrant workers like Myint from poor area in Myanmar, and

other slaves from Cambodia, and Laos are tricked or sold into the seafood

industry through the broker who lured them that they will receive huge amount

of salaries. The broker said they sell the slaves, usually to Thai captains of

fishing boats or the companies that own them. Each slave typically costs around

$1,000, according to Patima Tungpuchayakul, manager of the Thai-based

nonprofit Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation. (MacDowell, et al.,

2015). Currently, desperate employment agents (the broker) who can no longer

recruit legitimate workers to take on these unsafe jobs have recruited children

and even the disabled, lure them about the wages again and sometimes drugging

and kidnapping migrants (Willlmott, 2015).

2. Fraud of document and corrupt officials

Illegal Thai boats are falsely registered to fish in Indonesia through graft,

sometimes with the help of government authorities. Praporn Ekouru, a Thai former

member of Parliament, admitted to the AP that he had bribed Indonesian officials

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to go into their waters, as he stated, “We had to pay bribes of millions of baht per

year, or about 200,000 baht ($6,100) per month. ... The officials are not receiving

money anymore because this order came from the government.” (MacDowell, et

al., 2015).

The fraud of document not merely encompasses the fishing permit but also giving

false document (mainly passport) to the illegal migrant workers. One of the slaves

in Benjina, Maung Soe told the AP journalist that “I was given a fake seafarer book

belonging to a Thai national, accepted in Indonesia as an informal travel permit.”

In addition, the slaves who were dying are buried on behalf of their fake name in

order to avoid investigation from the Indonesian authority (considering the

company is registered as Thai-owned enterprise) (MacDowell, et al., 2015).

Picture 3. A former slave stands next to a grave marker of his fellow Burmese
slave (but under fake Thai nationality and name) in Benjina island

Source: The Associated Press

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Past International Action

The ILO has promulgated international labour standards in the form of Conventions

and recommendations, these legal aspect aimed to cover and set the minimum standards

of basic labour rights such as wages, working hours, safety, training and employment.

The Fisheries-related ILO instruments include 5 Conventions, these are:

1. 1959 Minimum (Fishermen) Age Convention,

2. 1959 Medical Examination (Fishermen) Convention,

3. 1959 Fishermen’s Articles of Agreement Convention,

4. 1966 Fishermen’s Competency Certificates and 1966 Accommodation of

5. Crews (Fishermen) Convention

Along with that line, two Recommendations have been issued, i.e. 1966 Vocational

Training (Fishermen) Recommendation and 1920 Hours of Work (Fishing)

Recommendation (OECD, 2005).

Responds from the Involving States on Benjina Case

1. The Government of Indonesia

The Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Republic of Indonesia, Susi

Pudjiastuti told that “One of the reasons I prioritize the eradication of illegal

fishing is not only because we are losing trillions of rupiah due to illegal fishing,

but also because illegal fishing is often a vehicle for other crimes, such as people

smuggling, drugs smuggling, and slavery,” (International Organization for

Migration, 2015).
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Susi Pudjiastuti also believes the trawlers on Benjina may really have Thai

owners, despite the Indonesian paperwork, reflecting a common practice of

faking or duplicating licenses (MacDowell, et al., 2015).

In responding to slavery issue in Benjina island, the Indonesian government has

called a temporary ban on most fishing, aiming to clear out foreign poachers

who take billions of dollars of seafood from the country’s waters. As a result,

more than 50 boats are now docked in Benjina, leaving up to 1,000 more slaves

marooned onshore and waiting to see what will happen next (MacDowell, et al.,

2015).

Currently, the Indonesian authority has prosecuted the perpetrators, five Thai

fishing boat captains and three Indonesians have been given three years in jail

for human trafficking in connection with slavery in the seafood industry (The

Guardian, 2016). The Thai companies (but registered under the name of PT.

Pusaka Benjina Resources) also obliged to pay a total of $67,800 in

compensation to their crew members (The Guardian, 2016). Prior to that, as

quick mitigation response, President Joko Widodo decided to form a joint team

to handle the case. The joint team consisted of the Indonesian National Army,

Customs, the Indonesian Police, and the Marine Security Agency (Bakamla)

(Kompas, 2017).

2. The Government of Thailand

Several pressures have been issued from other countries such as the US and the

European Union. The EU threatened it with a trade ban on seafood imports by

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issuing ‘yellow card’ on Thai fisheries product, this yellow card will turn into

‘red card’ if Thai government do not tackle illegal fishing and labour abuses.

For the information, an EU-wide ban could cost the country $1bn (£780m) a

year in lost trade. Companies and retailers linked to slavery via their supply

chains, have also been under pressure to boycott the country’s exports (Levitt,

2016). One of the company, Thai Union, the world’s biggest tuna exporter

brand, allegedly having benefited from the use of forced labour. The company

claims have terminated relationships with 17 suppliers who are involve in

forced labour or human trafficking violations since the inception of 2015

(Levitt, 2016).

On the government side, an official for the Department of Fisheries laid out a

plan to address labor abuse, including new laws that mandate wages, sick leave

and shifts of no more than 14 hours. However, Kamonpan Awaiwanont, the

Thai official seemingly worried to answer the question from the journalist about

the men in Benjina, as he merely answered, “This is still happening now?” he

asked back to the journalist. He paused for a moment then continued to answer,

“We are trying to solve it. This is ongoing.” He added that the Thai government

also promises a new national registry of illegal migrant workers, including in

the seafood industry (MacDowell, et al., 2015).

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CHAPTER 3

Conclusion and Recommendation

Conclusion

The responses addressing both slavery and illegal fishing cannot merely kind

of bold rhetoric and ambitious plans of action that will lead to lacking of

implementation in the subsequent years. Company owners and other beneficiaries

recipient of criminal activity will continue to escape from the conviction of trafficking

crimes when corrupt officials throughout the ranks of the civil service, enforcement

agencies and armed forces are still exist due to lack of law enforcement and the absence

of political will from the both countries' leaders. Slavery in Benjina Island is attached

to the broader failures of both governments in managing fisheries sector and the

protection of human rights. As a result of ‘conspiracy’ between company owners,

senior crew, labour brokers and corrupt elements within local enforcement agencies.

Some of these criminal actors are also involved in devastating human right violation

such as intimidation, physical abuse, forcible confinement, torture and murder of

migrant workers in order to keep vulnerable men enslaved on fishing trawlers. And

last, Yu Win, escaped victim of slavery on fishing vessel sent the massage to us, “I

want to tell [consumers] about our troubles. We sacrificed our blood, sweat and energy.

I really would like to let them know about our nightmares.”

Recommendation

1. Legal Aspect:

a. Urges all states to ratify the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the

United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, FAO’s Agreement on Port State

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Measures, FAO’s Responsible Fisheries Code, FAO’s International Action

Plan to prevent IUU fishing, FAO’s Guide to Accountability of the flag state,

b. Urges all states to promulgate national plan of action regarding fisheries sector

in accordance with respective states’ condition but remain subject to IPOA-IUU

2. Propaganda

a. Actively cooperate with association, civil society, news agencies, and

management board of fishing ports to organize propaganda activities on the

mass media and basic system information for dissemination of anti-IUU fishing,

along these lines, in cooperation with news agencies, respective states should

publicly announce the list of fishing vessels and owner of fishing vessels in

violation of IUU fishing activities;

b. Publicly announce the list of fishing vessels and their owners violating IUU

regulations, update the list of fishing vessels, ship-owners and the origin of

fishing vessels conducting IUU

3. Enforcement

a. Strengthening the coordination of law enforcement force at sea (navy, boarder

defense force, coast guard, etc) to intensify patrol, inspection, and control of the

operation of other fishing vessels at sea and at fishing ports in accordance with

international maritime law.

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b. Establishing a global database of high-seas fishing vessels that includes

information such as IUU prosecutions conducted by states or joint task force

operation

c. Strengthens the monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) which include

tools such as licensing systems, vessel monitoring systems, logbook regimes,

observer programmes, sea and air patrols, landing reports, dockside inspections,

intelligence gathering, data acquisition and exchange, forensic analysis and

genetic analysis of samples.