Decent work and responsible business conduct in aquaculture: Pioneering partnership

Partners and stakeholders in the Philippines’ aquaculture sector collaborate to promote decent work. The first Project Advisory/Steering Committee (PAC) meeting on aquaculture was held in Makati City on 14 March 2024, with 24 key officials (13 female, 11 male) from the government, employers, and workers groups, including industry representatives with mandate and interest in the aquaculture sector.

The meeting, organized under the ILO Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Supply Chains (RISSC) Project, with support from the Government of Japan, presented the aquaculture’s growing importance, contribution, challenges, and opportunities in aquaculture.

It also convened the formation of the PAC at the national level with key constituents, social partners and stakeholders with mandates, engagements, and initiatives in aquaculture. Moreover, it provided a venue for dialogue on proposed terms of engagement and coordination structure for the RISSC Aquaculture and identified priority activities for the 2024 implementation.

In 2023, aquaculture has grown more than 500 per cent in the past decades and accounts for the biggest share of 55.1 per cent of overall fisheries production at 545.64 thousand metric tons based on the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) report.

The Philippines was the 7th largest aquaculture producer of shrimp, farmed seaweed, milkfish (bangus), tilapia, crab and key products. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated the sector's Gross Domestic Product contribution at 1.7 per cent in 2021, with output value of US$ 3.9 billion and exports of US$1 billion (2020) to Japan, US, China, South Korea, Germany, and others.

Despite aquaculture’s growing importance, there is limited data on the labour and business landscape to fully understand the extent of decent work challenges. In addition, there is an expanding governance framework with growing requirements on human and labour rights and responsible business conduct, such as free trade agreements, multilateral instruments, among others.

Recent global supply chain disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical and trade conflicts, climate change, technological advances, and expanding due diligence requirements compound these issues.

The new Aquaculture Project Advisory/Steering Committee will be co-chaired by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor and Employment, with participation from the Department of Trade and Industry, employers, and workers’ organizations, including sectoral representatives.

The ILO RISSC Project will work closely with the PAC to foster a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable supply chain in aquaculture in the Philippines. The project will contribute through supply chain research, development/enhancement of sector-specific trainings, tools and policy advice, home-host country dialogues and policy engagement and dialogues, as well as legal/policy reforms.