Slavery scandals: Unpacking labour challenges and policy responses within the off-shore fisheries sector

Marschke, Melissa; Vandergeest, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2016.02.009

Cited by 139 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This omission can produce unintended social consequences such as undermining the rights and access, historical tenure, traditional livelihoods and the food security needs of small-scale fishers and coastal communities [42][43][44]. By now, we are also well aware of the widespread "slavery scandals" that have infiltrated global seafood supply chains [45]. This repugnant problem, however, only represents a small part of the extensive labor and human rights issues (e.g., evictions, unsafe working conditions, child labor, etc.)…”

Section: Exclusions and Injustices In Ocean Management And Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans

Bennett

2018

Marine Policy

156

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Abstract:The ocean is the next frontier for many conservation and development activities. Growth in marine protected areas, fisheries management, the blue economy, and marine spatial planning initiatives are occurring both within and beyond national jurisdictions. This mounting activity has coincided with increasing concerns about sustainability and international attention to ocean governance. Yet, despite growing concerns about exclusionary decision-making processes and social injustices, there remains inadequate attention to issues of social justice and inclusion in ocean science, management, governance and funding. In a rapidly changing and progressively busier ocean, we need to learn from past mistakes and identify ways to navigate a just and inclusive path towards sustainability. Proactive attention to inclusive decision-making and social justice is needed across key ocean policy realms including marine conservation, fisheries management, marine spatial planning, the blue economy, climate adaptation and global ocean governance for both ethical and instrumental reasons. This discussion paper aims to stimulate greater engagement with these critical topics. It is a call to action for ocean-focused researchers, policy-makers, managers, practitioners, and funders.

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Section: Exclusions and Injustices In Ocean Management And Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans

Bennett

2018

Marine Policy

156

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“…The EU programme issues “yellow” warning cards, and threatens to issue “red cards” and thus ban imports of seafood into the EU from states that are not taking sufficient action to stop IUU fishing in their jurisdictions, or by fishing vessels operating out of the offending states' ports. Although these programmes are oriented to fisheries management, since 2014 they have included attention to the adequacy of labour regulation, and the unfreedoms experienced by workers on vessels, with unfree labour often framed as slavery (Marschke and Vandergeest ; Tickler et al . ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Law and lawlessness in industrial fishing: frontiers in regulating labour relations in Asia

Vandergeest

2018

Int Social Sci J

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The paper examines the extension of state regulation of industrial fisheries to include labour relations in the wake of scandals concerning unfree and abusive working conditions in the fishing industry. The focus is on fisheries operated out of Thailand, supplemented by information about working conditions in fisheries based in Myanmar and Taiwan. A concept of frontier that pays attention to patterns in labour relations prior to intensification of state regulation enables consideration of how non‐state agents including vessel owners and captains, fishing technologies, marine ecologies, vessel mobilities, borders, and workers contribute to shaping working conditions in industrial fishing. This approach reframes current efforts to regulate industrial fisheries as acting not on an unregulated or lawless fisheries, but on a series of dynamic existing practices of involving multiple agents who regulate fisheries work in the relative absence of state regulation. Using this concept of the frontier also helps explain how and why labour relations in fisheries are positioned as exceptional in relation to terrestrial work, and draws attention to the way that state regulation works through owners and captains, often neglecting the agency of workers, or undermining worker agency through migration policies.

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“…Canada's seafood sector has also seen a significant increase in reliance on migrant workers since the mid-2000s (Knott 2016). This sector has not been the subject of significant inquiry-with some notable exceptions (Hein 2006;Baker 2012;Thomas and Belkhodja 2014;Knott 2016)-even as seafood labour abuse scandals have erupted globally (cf., Couper et al 2015;Marschke and Vandergeest 2016). Worker abuse in Thailand's shrimp peeling sheds, for example, exposed how difficult migrant worker abuse can be to uncover (Mason et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migrant worker experiences in Atlantic Canadian fish processing plants

Marschke¹,

Kehoe

Vandergeest³

2018

Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes

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Low‐skilled migrant workers provide an important labour source in Atlantic Canada's seafood industry. This research unpacks the experiences of 22 workers from Thailand and the Philippines working in one Atlantic Canadian seafood processing company. We pay particular attention to migration routes, labour conditions, and worker mobility, along with worker reflections on their experiences landing a Canadian job. We also consider the perceptions of migrant workers among company staff. We argue that despite the various unfreedoms associated with migrant worker programs, migrant workers in this particular facility have demonstrated agency in negotiating the program to their advantages. The success of the workers, however, is contingent on a conjuncture of elements that are not necessarily found elsewhere in the seafood processing industry. Worker experiences, both with other Canadian employers and elsewhere, offer a stark contrast to their current situation: migrant workers often experience significant unfreedoms to gain relatively free working conditions.

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Slavery scandals: Unpacking labour challenges and policy responses within the off-shore fisheries sector

Cited by 139 publications

References 15 publications

Navigating a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans

Navigating a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans

Law and lawlessness in industrial fishing: frontiers in regulating labour relations in Asia

Migrant worker experiences in Atlantic Canadian fish processing plants

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