Provincial Fisheries and Manpower Offices of West Java Province join forces to secure decent work at fishing sector

The ILO’s Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia Programme supports the effort taken by the Provincial Manpower Office and the Provincial Marine Affairs and Fisheries Office of West Java to create a synergy in joint inspection onboard fishing vessels.

News | Indramayu, West Java, Indonesia | 24 October 2022
The Provincial Manpower Office and the Provincial Marine Affairs and Fisheries Office of West Java, with support from the ILO’s Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia (SEA) Programme, organized a focus group discussion (FDG) on joint inspection on-board fishing vessels in Karangsong Fishing Port, Indramayu, West Java Province. Held on 18 October, the FGD was attended by representatives of national and local manpower office and local marine affairs and fisheries as well as labour inspectors from some municipalities and representatives of fishing ports.

The focus group discussion (FDG) on joint inspection on-board fishing vessels between the Provincial Manpower Office and the Provincial Marine Affairs and Fisheries Office of West Java.
Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia, congratulated the efforts taken by the two ministries to promote the mandates of ILO Convention No. 81/1947 on Labour Inspection which has been ratified by Indonesia. “The ILO appreciates the efforts taken to concretely promote the national law and the ILO Convention to develop effective cooperation among the inspection services, relevant governmental and private institutions,” stated Michiko.

This FGD is only a first step that we are going to follow with the formulation of Decree or MoU to legalize the joint inspection on-board fishing vessels that will cover not only technical vessel inspection, but also labour rights and conditions of workers."

Hermansyah, Head of Provincial Marine Affairs and Fisheries of West Java
Meanwhile, Hermansyah, Head of Provincial Marine Affairs and Fisheries of West Java, highlighted the pursuant of legal basis of this collaboration either in the form of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two local government offices at the provincial level or in the form of West Java Governor’s decree. “This FGD is only a first step that we are going to follow with the formulation of Decree or MoU to legalize the joint inspection on-board fishing vessels that will cover not only technical vessel inspection, but also labour rights and conditions of workers,” he said.

The pilot joint inspection conducted during the site visit.
To pilot the joint inspection, the FDG was followed by a site visit to “Bunga Hati”, a fishing vessel with the size of 131 GT and operated by 15 crews. The pilot joint inspection provided an opportunity for knowledge sharing on inspection practices between these two provincial ministries of West Java. During the site visit, the participants spent the time to interview the crews about the working conditions and lives at sea.

This is an eye-opening experience for us as the labour inspectors in West Java. We have inspected many land-based working sites. However, we never set foot in on-board fishing vessels, let alone to regularly and properly inspect fishing vessels."

Joao De Araujo, Head of the Labour Inspection Division of the Provincial Manpower Office of West Java
Dede Hermawan, Head of Captured Fishing of the Provincial Marine and Fisheries Office of West Java, explained that the FDG and pilot joint inspection had shown the important collaboration that should be done between these two ministries. “We are working on different legal basis as we have our own mandates and roles. Yet, at some degrees, we are also obliged deal with labour related issues onboard fishing vessels. Thus, it is important for us to have this synergy,” he said.

“This is an eye-opening experience for us as the labour inspectors in West Java. We have inspected many land-based working sites. However, we never set foot in on-board fishing vessels, let alone to regularly and properly inspect fishing vessels. Thanks to our partner, the local Fisheries Officer, we have a chance to see work conditions of the fishing sector,” said Joao De Araujo, Head of the Labour Inspection Division of the Provincial Manpower Office of West Java.

We are working on different legal basis as we have our own mandates and roles... Thus, it is important for us to have this synergy."

Dede Hermawan, Head of Captured Fishing of the Provincial Marine and Fisheries Office of West Java
The FDG and the site visit concluded with the future effort to improve enforcement and coordination between these two ministries to overcome remaining obstacles of, among others, a lack of coordination and ownership of labour inspection in fishing ports. Referring to Law No. 45/2009 on Fishery as amended by the Law No. 11/2020 on Employment Creation, the headmaster of a fishing port has authorities, among other, to inspecting and authorizing fishers’ employment agreement and to inspecting compliance of fishing vessels crew requirements.

On the other hand, based on the Law No. 3/1951 on the Declaration of the Application of Law No. 23/1948 on Labour Inspection in the whole territory of the Republic of Indonesia, the article 2:2 states that labour inspectors have the authorities to enter all places where employment activities occur or all places suspected to have employment activities and, based on article 3:2, labour inspectors also have the authority to collect all information on labour relation and general labour conditions.


The Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia (SEA) is a multi-country, multi-annual initiative of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), implemented by the ILO in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and aimed to promote regular and safe labour migration and decent work for all migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in South-East Asia.