Few Safe Harbors: Migrant Workers Vulnerable in Southeast Asia’s Fishing and Seafood Industries

Labor conditions aboard the region’s poorly regulated fleet of fishing trawlers are a cause for continuing alarm.

Migrant fishers aboard a fishing trawler off the coast of Rayong province, Thailand. April 2023.

The blue economy has been critical to the prosperity of the Southeast Asian region for generations. More than 52.7 million people in Asia work in fisheries and related sectors, representing 85 percent of employment in the industry globally. Trade in fishing and seafood-related products between ASEAN member states and countries outside the region is valued at $13.7 billion annually.

During the last 30 years, the labor force in the fishing and seafood processing sectors has changed dramatically in response to Southeast Asia’s rapid but uneven development. Migrant workers now fill a substantial share of these jobs because of the reluctance of locals to pursue work that is often viewed as low-paid, demanding, and hazardous.

Labor migration into the blue economy continues to garner a great deal of attention in Southeast Asia due to substantial concerns over labor rights abuses and their linkages to global supply chains. However, critical gaps remain in the evidence needed to design effective policies and programs, limiting the ability of stakeholders to respond to risks in a timely and informed manner.

To help address this, the International Labour Organization (ILO) conducted a regional study entitled “Towards fair seas: Recruitment and working conditions for migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in South-East Asia.” The survey is the largest conducted on this issue to date in the region, and interviewed 1,262 Cambodian, Indonesian, Myanmar, and Vietnamese migrants who worked in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

High Recruitment Fees and Demanding Conditions

The study highlights how the journey into these jobs often begins with risk. Private employment agencies, brokers and other intermediaries are frequently involved in the recruitment and placement of migrant workers, charging them fees to obtain jobs. In some cases, the recruitment costs can be excessively high, untransparent, or manipulated.

This leaves many migrant fishers vulnerable. Of those surveyed, 61 percent said they went into debt, including many who had financed their migration through agreeing to pay their employers back through wage deductions. Such arrangements create a dangerous dependency, effectively tying migrant workers to their jobs and increasing the risk of debt bondage.

Once employed, many migrant workers face challenging and unsafe conditions. Because of the highly unpredictable nature of commercial fishing work, many fishers work long hours and are unable to maintain regular rest periods while at sea. However, fishers may also be forced to work excessive overtime beyond legal limits due to inadequate crew size, unreasonably long fishing trips, or chronic denial of rest or shore leave.

Migrants in the fishing sector were found to typically work very long hours (14 per day), nearly every day of the week (6.7 days per week), amounting to a rough average of 94 work hours. The average work hours were even longer for migrants on longline tuna fishing vessels, where they are particularly at risk for extremely long hours.

The pressure to work long hours comes with negative health consequences. Over a quarter of migrant fishing and seafood processing workers (27 percent) had experienced work-related injuries requiring medical treatment with the data revealing a clear correlation between excessive working hours and serious occupational injuries.

Vulnerability to Forced Labor

The findings related to forced labor are a cause for continuing alarm. To assess the prevalence of forced labor, migrants were asked questions to determine if they were “working involuntary” and had a “threat or menace of penalty” that prevented from leaving their employment. The survey produced an overall estimate that one out of eight migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors (13 percent) were employed in situations of forced labor. Forced labor was much more common among fishers (20 percent) than seafood processing workers (0.4 percent).

Given that cases of forced labor were found almost entirely within the fishing sector, further analysis was conducted to determine the segments of the industry where the problems were most substantial. Among the types of fishing examined, longline fishing had the highest prevalence of forced labor (24 percent).

Time spent at sea is a critical factor. Among migrant fishers who worked on fishing vessels that were normally out at sea for six months or more, one-third experienced situations of forced labor (34 percent). In addition to the isolation involved with longer voyages, distant water vessels may come into port across the world, exacerbating the jurisdictional challenges and language barriers with inspectors.

Toward Fair Seas in the Blue Economy

Taken together, the study findings point to systemic challenges across Southeast Asia’s blue economy. High recruitment costs, inadequate wage protection, long working hours, serious occupational injuries, barriers to freedom of association, gaps in access to social protection, and concerns with forced labor all contribute to the vulnerability of migrant workers.

The study particularly highlights the higher frequency of labor abuses on distant water tuna fishing vessels, where excessive work hours and extremely long periods at sea contribute to heightened vulnerability to coercive labor practices. The location for this type of fishing, which is often carried out in remote fishing grounds on the high seas where law enforcement is very limited, further exacerbates the risk for migrant fishers.

While conditions were substantially better in the seafood processing industry, improvements in labor rights protection are needed throughout all tiers of the supply chain. In particular, the heavy reliance on women migrant workers to perform low-paid, precarious and often informalized work in the seafood processing industry has not received sufficient attention.

Addressing these issues effectively requires coordinated action to ensure decent work. Countries of origin and destination for migrant fishers and seafood processors in Asia should move to ratify and fully implement the international labor standards relating to recruitment, work in fishing, and forced labor.

Equally important is strengthening migrant workers’ rights to organize. Experience shows that providing workers with their fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining is the most effective way to ensure a balanced power relationship with employers. Removing the legal restrictions and supporting workers’ organizations to take root and flourish will help rebalance the scales towards social justice in Southeast Asia’s blue economy.

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The blue economy has been critical to the prosperity of the Southeast Asian region for generations. More than 52.7 million people in Asia work in fisheries and related sectors, representing 85 percent of employment in the industry globally. Trade in fishing and seafood-related products between ASEAN member states and countries outside the region is valued at $13.7 billion annually.

During the last 30 years, the labor force in the fishing and seafood processing sectors has changed dramatically in response to Southeast Asia’s rapid but uneven development. Migrant workers now fill a substantial share of these jobs because of the reluctance of locals to pursue work that is often viewed as low-paid, demanding, and hazardous.

Labor migration into the blue economy continues to garner a great deal of attention in Southeast Asia due to substantial concerns over labor rights abuses and their linkages to global supply chains. However, critical gaps remain in the evidence needed to design effective policies and programs, limiting the ability of stakeholders to respond to risks in a timely and informed manner.

To help address this, the International Labour Organization (ILO) conducted a regional study entitled “Towards fair seas: Recruitment and working conditions for migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in South-East Asia.” The survey is the largest conducted on this issue to date in the region, and interviewed 1,262 Cambodian, Indonesian, Myanmar, and Vietnamese migrants who worked in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

High Recruitment Fees and Demanding Conditions

The study highlights how the journey into these jobs often begins with risk. Private employment agencies, brokers and other intermediaries are frequently involved in the recruitment and placement of migrant workers, charging them fees to obtain jobs. In some cases, the recruitment costs can be excessively high, untransparent, or manipulated.

This leaves many migrant fishers vulnerable. Of those surveyed, 61 percent said they went into debt, including many who had financed their migration through agreeing to pay their employers back through wage deductions. Such arrangements create a dangerous dependency, effectively tying migrant workers to their jobs and increasing the risk of debt bondage.

Once employed, many migrant workers face challenging and unsafe conditions. Because of the highly unpredictable nature of commercial fishing work, many fishers work long hours and are unable to maintain regular rest periods while at sea. However, fishers may also be forced to work excessive overtime beyond legal limits due to inadequate crew size, unreasonably long fishing trips, or chronic denial of rest or shore leave.

Migrants in the fishing sector were found to typically work very long hours (14 per day), nearly every day of the week (6.7 days per week), amounting to a rough average of 94 work hours. The average work hours were even longer for migrants on longline tuna fishing vessels, where they are particularly at risk for extremely long hours.

The pressure to work long hours comes with negative health consequences. Over a quarter of migrant fishing and seafood processing workers (27 percent) had experienced work-related injuries requiring medical treatment with the data revealing a clear correlation between excessive working hours and serious occupational injuries.

Vulnerability to Forced Labor

The findings related to forced labor are a cause for continuing alarm. To assess the prevalence of forced labor, migrants were asked questions to determine if they were “working involuntary” and had a “threat or menace of penalty” that prevented from leaving their employment. The survey produced an overall estimate that one out of eight migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors (13 percent) were employed in situations of forced labor. Forced labor was much more common among fishers (20 percent) than seafood processing workers (0.4 percent).

Given that cases of forced labor were found almost entirely within the fishing sector, further analysis was conducted to determine the segments of the industry where the problems were most substantial. Among the types of fishing examined, longline fishing had the highest prevalence of forced labor (24 percent).

Time spent at sea is a critical factor. Among migrant fishers who worked on fishing vessels that were normally out at sea for six months or more, one-third experienced situations of forced labor (34 percent). In addition to the isolation involved with longer voyages, distant water vessels may come into port across the world, exacerbating the jurisdictional challenges and language barriers with inspectors.

Toward Fair Seas in the Blue Economy

Taken together, the study findings point to systemic challenges across Southeast Asia’s blue economy. High recruitment costs, inadequate wage protection, long working hours, serious occupational injuries, barriers to freedom of association, gaps in access to social protection, and concerns with forced labor all contribute to the vulnerability of migrant workers.

The study particularly highlights the higher frequency of labor abuses on distant water tuna fishing vessels, where excessive work hours and extremely long periods at sea contribute to heightened vulnerability to coercive labor practices. The location for this type of fishing, which is often carried out in remote fishing grounds on the high seas where law enforcement is very limited, further exacerbates the risk for migrant fishers.

While conditions were substantially better in the seafood processing industry, improvements in labor rights protection are needed throughout all tiers of the supply chain. In particular, the heavy reliance on women migrant workers to perform low-paid, precarious and often informalized work in the seafood processing industry has not received sufficient attention.

Addressing these issues effectively requires coordinated action to ensure decent work. Countries of origin and destination for migrant fishers and seafood processors in Asia should move to ratify and fully implement the international labor standards relating to recruitment, work in fishing, and forced labor.

Equally important is strengthening migrant workers’ rights to organize. Experience shows that providing workers with their fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining is the most effective way to ensure a balanced power relationship with employers. Removing the legal restrictions and supporting workers’ organizations to take root and flourish will help rebalance the scales towards social justice in Southeast Asia’s blue economy.

Benjamin Harkins is a Technical Specialist with the ILO Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia program. He has worked on social justice for migrants, refugees and other marginalized groups in South-East Asia for almost 20 years.

ASEAN migrant workers

International Labor Organization

Thailand fishing industry

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