Fishing

Over 58 million people are engaged in the primary sector of capture fisheries and aquaculture. Of these, approximately 37 percent are engaged full time, 23 percent part time, and the remainder either occasional fishers or of unspecified status. Over 15 million are working full-time on board fishing vessels.

Fishing is one of the most challenging and hazardous occupations ILO is working to ensure decent work for all fishers. The ILO’s international labour standard concerned specifically with work on board fishing vessels is the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188). This Convention demonstrates the renewed commitment by the ILO to ensure decent work in fishing. It aims to ensure decent conditions of work with regard to minimum requirements for work on board; conditions of service; accommodation and food; occupational safety and health protection; medical care and social security. A major effort is underway in the ILO to achieve widespread ratification and implementation of the Convention. Convention No. 188 is a valuable tool for addressing issues concerning migrant fisher and eliminating forced labour and child labour in the fishing sector.

Key resources

Abandoned ship docked at the wharf. Port of Genoa, Italy.

Database on reported incidents of abandonment of seafarers

The line graphs show a time series of modelled global and regional employment estimates at the sectoral level. The ILO modelled estimates generally cover 189 countries, offering a comprehensive set of internationally comparable labour statistics. These include both reported data and imputed figures for countries with missing information. The imputations are generated using econometric models developed by the ILO.

For more detailed labour market indicators and country-level data, visit the Sectoral Employment Statistics page of the ILOSTAT database.

The line graphs show a time series of modelled global and regional employment estimates at the sectoral level. The ILO modelled estimates generally cover 189 countries, offering a comprehensive set of internationally comparable labour statistics. These include both reported data and imputed figures for countries with missing information. The imputations are generated using econometric models developed by the ILO.

For more detailed labour market indicators and country-level data, visit the Sectoral Employment Statistics page of the ILOSTAT database.