ILO Urges Wider Fishing Treaty Adoption to Fight Forced Labour and Protect Crews

“The Maritime Labour Convention shows what strong labour governance at sea can achieve, and our challenge is to bring fishers to the same level of protection,” Haq said.

Sustainable seafood is not just about healthy fish stocks; it also depends on how the people catching fish are treated. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is calling for wider adoption and effective implementation of its Work in Fishing Convention (No. 188) to protect crews in a sector marked by informality, worker vulnerability and risks of forced labour.

Tariq Haq, Head of the Transport and Maritime Unit at the ILO's Sectoral Policies Branch, brought that message to a high-level European Parliament event, stressing that countries need an internationally recognised framework to tackle abuse aboard fishing vessels. Ratifying the convention gives governments a practical tool for strengthening labour protections and responding to violations.

The event, "Advancing the social dimension of sustainable fisheries", was organised by OPAGAC, an association of tuna freezer vessel owners, and opened by the Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries. Discussions examined how fishers' working conditions could be better reflected in EU policies and enforcement.

A Fishing Treaty Still Waiting for Wider Support

Convention No. 188 sets standards for conditions of service, occupational safety and health, medical care and social security. These protections address the everyday realities of work aboard fishing vessels, making decent employment part of the wider conversation about responsible fisheries rather than treating it as a separate concern.

The ILO reported that 27 Member States had ratified the convention, including recent ratifications by Belgium, Côte d'Ivoire, Iceland, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands. The Maritime Labour Convention, adopted in 2006, one year before the fishing convention, has 113 ratifications, revealing a substantial gap in international uptake between the two instruments.

"The Maritime Labour Convention shows what strong labour governance at sea can achieve, and our challenge is to bring fishers to the same level of protection," Haq said. His comparison underlined the need to turn growing recognition of fishers' vulnerability into stronger, enforceable safeguards.

EU Rules Leave Important Gaps in Coverage

The discussion comes ahead of the EU Forced Labour Regulation, which will ban the sale, import and export of products made using forced labour on the EU market from December 2027. Participants considered how labour protections in fishing could be reflected more effectively in the bloc's policies and enforcement efforts.

Existing EU directives provide important protections but do not fully replace Convention No. 188. Directive 2017/159 excludes self-employed fishers and does not contain provisions on flag State inspection or port State control, leaving important areas outside its coverage that the international convention addresses.

Ratification matters particularly for vessels operating internationally because countries that have ratified the convention can inspect foreign fishing vessels calling at their ports against its standards. This gives authorities a means of confronting labour abuses and forced labour, supporting fair competition for operators that meet their responsibilities.

Divided Responsibilities Slow Progress at Sea

Labour protection has advanced more slowly in fishing than in other sea-based industries, partly because the sector is fragmented. Fishers often lack organised representation, limiting their collective voice in discussions about working conditions, and responsibility for oversight is divided among labour ministries, fisheries bodies and maritime authorities.

Stronger coordination between these authorities is critical to effective implementation. Haq pointed to renewed momentum through recent ratifications, growing recognition of the connections between labour abuses, forced labour and sustainable fisheries, and developments in port State control of fishing vessels, offering practical routes towards better oversight.

Safer Jobs Are the Real Test of Progress

The ILO's Partnership for Decent Work in Fisheries supports countries seeking to ratify and implement Convention No. 188, helping move commitments from political statements into practice. The initiative receives support from the governments of France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, together with the European Commission.

Better working conditions aboard fishing vessels have implications for the entire seafood industry, from fair competition between operators to responsible fisheries and sustainable supply chains. Haq's closing message placed fishers themselves at the centre of the effort: progress must be judged by safer workplaces, stronger protections and more decent conditions on the vessels where they work.