International Labour Standards

Labour Standards on Fishing Vessels

This project, funded by the Government of New Zealand, will support Pacific Island Countries to address the issue of poor working conditions, labour rights violations and human trafficking on fishing vessels in the Pacific and contribute to making employment on fishing vessels in the region safe, decent and worthwhile.

The ILO Office for Pacific Island Countries, in collaboration with the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is implementing part of a four-year project to improve labour standards on fishing vessels in the Pacific.

The Project covers 15 countries in the Pacific:

ILO Member States: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Non-Member States: Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue and Tokelau.

The Project includes activities to help government agencies improve how they enforce laws as well as promote relevant ILO instruments such as the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188) and the Work in Fishing Recommendation, 2007 (No. 199)

Project outputs

  1. The provision of information, opportunities for collaboration and coordination, and technical support to PICs to improve working conditions on fishing vessels.
  2. Technical and operational support to PICs to develop, implement, monitor and enforce labour standards, including the national implementation of MTCs for Crew Employment Conditions.
  3. The provision of knowledge and tools for advocacy, awareness raising and social consensus building on improving working conditions on fishing vessels.
  4. Technical support and advice to fishing entities in PICs establish and maintain safe, decent and worthwhile working conditions on fishing vessels.
More information on the project can be found on the ILO Development Cooperation Dashboard.

Project Coordinator  - Surkafa F Katafono
Project Assistant - Sheik Hussain
Decent Work and International Labour Standard Specialist - Colin Fenwick