Fishers and Plunderers , livre ebook

FISHERS AND PLUNDERERS
SRI’s mission is to promote, implement, enforce and advance all seafarers’ and fishers’ rights and remedies, including human rights and the rights of other persons on board vessels, through research, education and training throughout the international maritime industry, and advocacy in international, regional and national forums, and to provide a database of materials for the benefit of the international community.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) represents more than 4.5 million transport workers from 150 countries organised in over 700 unions. Within its transport sectors, ITF represents fishers working at sea and on land. ITF campaigns for better working conditions in an industry that can be harsh and oppressive to those working outside regulation, and believes this book will contribute toward fairer, safer and more sustainable fisheries.
Fishers and Plunderers
Theft, Slavery and Violence at Sea
Alastair Couper, Hance D. Smith and Bruno Ciceri
First published 2015 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Alastair Couper, Hance D. Smith and Bruno Ciceri 2015
The right of Alastair Couper, Hance D. Smith and Bruno Ciceri to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3592 6 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 3591 9 Paperback ISBN 978 1 7837 1335 6 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 7837 1337 0 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 1 7837 1336 3 EPUB eBook
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset by Curran Publishing Services, Norwich Text design by Melanie Patrick Simultaneously printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
Contents
 
List of Figures, Tables and Plates
 
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
 
Acknowledgements
 
Foreword by Deirdre Fitzpatrick, Seafarers’ Rights International
1
Introduction
 
Fishers and Plunderers
 
Part I The Fishing Industry and the Race to Fish
 
Part II The Plight of the Fishers
 
Sources of Data
Part I The Fishing Industry and the Race to Fish
2
Fish, gear and boats
 
Introduction
 
Marine Life and the Ocean Environment
 
The Resources of Fish
 
Fishing Technology: Gears and Vessels
 
The Environmental Impacts of Fishing
 
The State of the Stocks
 
Conclusion
3
The Risks of Working at Sea
 
Introduction
 
The Risks of Working at Sea
 
Small-Scale Fisheries
 
Main Commercial and Distant-Water Fisheries
 
Occupational Health
 
Conclusion
4
Nation States’ Rights to Fish
 
Introduction
 
The Dominance of the Distant-Water Fishing Nations
 
Advantages to the Developed States
 
Transnational Mergers and Subsidies
 
The Fisheries Policy of the European Union
 
Conclusion
5
Employment and Poverty in Fishing Communities
 
Introduction
 
Industrial Fishing in Developed Countries
 
Industrial Fishing and Employment in Distant Waters
 
Small-Scale Fishers
 
Neglect and Poverty in the Small-Scale Fishing Communities of the Philippines
 
Resistance by Small-Scale Fishers
 
Alternative Policies to Create Employment for Local People
 
Conclusion
6
Destruction and Theft of Fish Stocks
 
Introduction
 
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Practices
 
Theft of Fish from Small-Scale Coastal Fishing Communities
 
Conclusions, Actions and Deterrence
7
Laundering and Marketing Stolen Fish
 
Introduction
 
Invisible Fleets and Disguised Species
 
Ports of Convenience
 
Laundering Illegal Landings at Legitimate Ports
 
Flags of Convenience
 
Conclusions
Part II The Plight of the Fishers
8
Arrests of Fishers
 
Introduction
 
Pacific North-West and Pacific Western Central
 
West and East Indian Ocean
 
The Political Dimensions
 
Conclusions
9
Getting a Crew by Dubious Contracting and Slave Trafficking
 
Introduction
 
Verbal Agreements
 
Written Agreements
 
Regional Patterns
 
Conclusions
 
Appendix: Evidence of Duplicity and Unfair Contracts
10
Abuses and Slavery at Sea
 
Introduction
 
Joining the Ship
 
The Experience of Abandonment
 
Child Abuse in Fishing
 
Abuse of Migrant Fishers in New Zealand
 
Migrant Workers on Scottish Fishing Vessels
 
Home Region Fishers in the Philippines and Indonesia
 
Conclusion
 
Appendix: Evidence of Abuse and Slavery
11
Escape from Hell
 
Introduction
 
Desertions
 
Strikes
 
Mutinies and Murders
 
The Skippers
 
Conclusion
12
Fishing Vessels and the Drugs Trade
 
Introduction
 
Markets, Producers and Organisation
 
Ocean Voyages and Transhipment
 
The Involvement of Fishing Vessels and Fishers
 
The Evolving Trade and Countermeasures
 
Conclusion
13
Piracy and Armed Robbery
 
Introduction
 
South-East Asia
 
East Africa
 
The Seychelles
 
West Africa
 
Conclusions and Legal Issues
14
Conclusion: Problems and Prospects
 
Notes
 
Index
Figures, Tables and Plates
Figures
2.1
Basic distribution of marine catches
2.2
Fishing gears
2.3
Fishing vessels
2.4
Fish production by ocean region and country, 2012
3.1
Reported fishing vessel (total loss) incidents and associated number of lives lost, 2000–10
4.1
The UN System applicable to the legal bases of fisheries
4.2
The global 200 nautical mile zones and advantages of imperial inheritances
4.3
Foreign fishing activities in EEZs of the West African states
5.1
EEZs and high seas in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean
6.1
Regional patterns of IUU fishing as percentages of total catches
6.2
Arrests of fishing vessels around India, 2000–03
6.3
Migration of straddling fish stocks in the Indian Ocean
7.1
Tuna transhipment activities of MV Hatsukari in 2000
8.1
Maritime claims in the South China Sea
8.2
Arrests of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan fishing vessels, 1981–2009
9.1
Principal routes of human trafficking through Thailand from adjacent countries
12.1
Fishing vessels used for illicit drug smuggling: some reported incidents and activities, 2005–11
Tables
2.1
Fish production by country, 2012
3.1
International comparison of commercial fishing-related fatality statistics
3.2
Categories of vessels above 500 GRT where lives were lost resulting from total losses of the vessel, 2000–10
3.3
Causes of work-related deaths from disease among fishers employed in the UK fishing industry, 1965–2005
4.1
EEZs of selected countries (in thousand sq km)
4.2
Regional fisheries management organisations
5.1
Number of fishing vessels by tonnage group and number of fishers
5.2
Pacific islander employment in locally based tuna industries on vessels and in onshore facilities, 2008
8.1
Some conflicting maritime claims in East and South-East Asia
8.2
Examples of arrests and related incidents reported in South-East Asia, 2011–14
8.3
Examples of maritime boundary-related incidents in the Indian Ocean, 2010–14
9.1
Mismatch between work conditions given pre-departure (Manila) and upon arrival (Singapore)
12.1
Fishing vessels engaged in drug trafficking
13.1
Regions and positions of robbery and piracy, 2012
13.2
Actual and attempted acts of piracy on fishing vessels, 2000–July 2013
13.3
Selected incidents of piracy on fishing vessels, 2000–July 2013
14.1
Issues and the Conventions addressing the rights of fishers
14.2
Articles in the Conventions protecting the rights of fishers
Plates
1
Hazardous sea conditions: the French fishing vessel Alf in storm conditions in the Irish Sea
2
Treacherous surf, Pacific islands
3
Meagre catch, Indian coast
4
Peeling shrimps on quays, South India
5
A small-scale fishery typical of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Somalia
6
Landing from a large-scale fishing vessel, Peterhead, Scotland
7
Early morning auction in the cold conditions of the Peterhead market, Scotland
8
A very large pelagic vessel with advanced fish-finding and catching equipment capable of netting several hundred tonnes at every haul
9
Scourging the sea bed by stern trawler
10
Destructive fishing with the use of dynamite in coral reef areas on the East African coast
11
Illegal fishing in 2007 by transhipment in the Barents Sea
12
lllegal fishing in a ‘no-fishing’ zone in the Gulf of Thailand
13
Best practice: healthy fishing for skipjack tuna by pole and line in the Maldives
14
‘Living hell’ on a mutiny vessel
15
Crew charged with murder, Thailand
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AIDS
acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AOS
Apostleship of the Sea
ATS
amphetamine-type stimulants
AVAAZ
a global civic organisation
CARICOM
Caribbean Community and Common Market
CCAMLR
Commission/Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
CCBSP
Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea
CCSBT
Convention/Commission on the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna
CFP
Common Fisheries Policy
CITES
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
CLCS
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
CoP
code of practice
DG-MARE
EU Director(ate)-General of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
DWFN
Distant Water Fishing Nation
EEZ
exclusive economic zone
EFZ
exclusive fisheries zone
EJF
Environmental Justice Foundation
ENSO
El Niño Southern Oscillation in the Pacific
ETA
estimated time of arrival
FADS
fish aggregating d