Background

Recent years have seen both fishing itself and the market for caught fish becoming increasingly globalized. Technology in the fishing industry has been changing rapidly as well, often transforming the way that fishing is carried out. Difficult working conditions are common in fishing, regardless of the type of commercial fishing operation. Fishing involves long hours and strenuous activity in an often challenging marine environment. Relationships between employers (often fishing-vessel owners) and fishers in the fishing sector are also diverse, from casual basis to more formal arrangements. Moreover, the Indonesian government has acknowledged that an increase in foreign and Indonesian fishermen are subjected to forced labor on Indonesian and foreign-flagged fishing vessels in Indonesian waters.

In Indonesia, ensuring decent working conditions in the fishing and maritime sector has become a priority of the new government. Fishing and maritime has an important strategic role in national economic development, especially for improving job opportunities, income equality, and living conditions. The government considers that it is crucial to have optimal and sustainable management of its fishing resources. Therefore it is necessary to improve the role of labour inspection in fishing and the participation of the community to strengthen workplace compliance in the fishing sector.

The ILO has always given special consideration to the maritime and fishing sector. By the year 2000, it had adopted over 60 Conventions and Recommendations for seafarers, several of which applied or could be applied under certain circumstances to fishers. One of the key ILO standards in this field is the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188), which aims at ensuring that fishers have decent working conditions on board fishing vessels that meet minimum requirements with regard to work on board, conditions of service, accommodation and food, occupational safety and health protection, medical care and social security.

In light of the above, and based on a request from the Ministry of Manpower, the ILO is organizing a series of meetings among the government, workers’ and employers’ organizations to discuss various issues related to work and labour inspection in the fishing sector.

Purpose and Objective

The objectives of the meetings on labour inspection in the fishing sector are:

1. To share information among responsible government agencies on their roles as inspectors in the fishing sector and map out each task and responsibilities to avoid overlap and to ensure coordination among those agencies;
2. To review and analyze the existing labour laws and regulations related to the fishing sector and share information on each government agencies’ roles and duties in implementing such laws and regulations ;
3. To discuss the substantive contents of ILO Convention 188 among the tripartite constituents and finalize the draft gap analysis.