ILO supports the establishment a joint inspection team in the fisheries sector of North Kalimantan

© ILO

© ILO

TANJUNG SELOR, North Kalimantan (ILO News) - The ILO’s 8.7 Accelerator Lab programme continues to support the Government of Indonesia in improving the labour inspection mechanism in the fisheries sector. Not only in Java and Sumatra islands, the programme has also expanded its joint inspection initiative to North Kalimantan Province known for the potential of its fisheries sector.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and the Executive Office of the President (KSP), the 8.7 Accelerator Lab programme conducted a two-day capacity building workshop on the dissemination of the Field Guide for Carrying out Labour Inspection Visits On-board Fishing Vessels and the initial process of establishing a Joint Labour Inspection Team in North Kalimantan’s fisheries sector.

Labour inspection is key to ensure the compliance and implementation of labour laws and workplace regulation. A robust management of the inspection mechanism for the marine and fisheries sector can be the main driver in improving the economy of the people of North Kalimantan.

Suriansyah, the Secretary of North Kalimantan Province, representing the Governor of North Kalimantan

The Governor of North Kalimantan, H. Zainal A. Paliwang, represented by the Secretary of Province, Suriansyah greatly supported the initial effort to better protect North Kalimantan’s fisheries sector from forced labour, child labour and human trafficking.

“The abundance of marine products in North Kalimantan sourced from capture fisheries, aquaculture, and seagrass provides enormous potential for the marine and fisheries sector. Thus, Labour inspection is key to ensure the compliance and implementation of labour laws and workplace regulation. A robust management of the inspection mechanism for the marine and fisheries sector can be the main driver in improving the economy of the people of North Kalimantan,” he said.

During the workshop good practices of the joint inspection models established in the provinces of Central Java and North Sulawesi were shared to the participants that comprised of port authorities, fisheries and labour inspectors. Muhamad Nour, National Coordinator of the ILO’s 8.7 Accelerator Lab programme, stated that the initiative to establish the joint inspection team in North Kalimantan draws on the ILO’s previous experiences.

© ILO

© ILO

“The ILO’s 8.7 Accelerator Lab programme closely works with relevant ILO’s programmes. Drawing from ILO’s previous experiences, we continue to strengthen and expand our programme activities. In addition to our support to the development of joint labour inspections in the fishing sector of Jakarta, North Sumatra, Bali and Central Java, we are now expanding our programme to North Kalimantan,” he explained.

The workshop has identified the legal frameworks required to support the provincial team and also concluded with an initiative to formulate a work plan for the establishment of a joint labour inspection forum in the fisheries sector of North Kalimantan. Various inputs were provided by representatives of Manpower Office of Central Java Province, Manpower Office of North Sulawesi, Marine Affair and Fisheries Office of Central Java, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and relevant stakeholders from North Kalimantan.

Based on data from the Statistics-Indonesia of North Kalimantan, the number of fishers has reached 16,400 people with a total of 11,117 fishing vessels. Of these, around 95.95 percent are small/traditional fishing boats with sizes under 5 GT operating in the 12 nautical mile fishing area.