Gqeberha: 14 April 2024
South Africa may be acknowledged globally as being among leading maritime countries with advanced standards for sound labour working conditions in its commercial fishing subsector, but the country is not about to let up.
Instead, armed with a basket of laws, regulations, and international conventions; moves are foot to strengthen its work on the regulation and maintenance of sound labour working conditions for the country’s commercial fishing sector, now undertaken jointly through enhanced coordination, consolidation and collaboration involving three key state departments.
These include the Department of Transport (DoT) through the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment and – for the first time – the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) as well as the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI), the latter responsible for seafarers training.
This emerged this past week in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape province, where 30 officials from the various state departments, inclusive of SAMSA and SAIMI, were taken through a three-day capacity building course on detection of forced labour on board fishing vessels, conducted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ILO is a sister United Nations (UN) organisation to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
It was during this gathering at the Nelson Mandela University’s Ocean Sciences Campus – from 09-11 April 2024 – where it was divulged for the first time that South Africa’s DEL is in the process of finalising and signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SAMSA to facilitate the active ongoing engagement of DEL officials in labour related matters in the country’s commercial fishing subsector, inclusive of vessels inspections.
The MOU between DEL and SAMSA, it emerged, is intended to both facilitate the harmonious regulation of labour working conditions under a set of DEL’s basket of labour legislation – such as the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, Labour Relations Act and related – with those provided for by the Merchant Shipping Act administered by SAMSA, as well as to bolster the number of inspectors.
According to both SAMSA and DEL officials present at the training workshop in Gqeberha, the MoU is due to be signed soon.
The officials from the respective entities included SAMSA Chief Operations Officer, Mr Sobantu Tilayi, and DEL’s Director for Advocacy and Stakeholder Relations in the Inspections and Enforcement Directorate, Dr Pravine Naidoo, in the company of DFFE’s Deputy Director in the Chief Directorate for Monitoring, Control and Surveillance, Ms Delricia Augustus, and ILO South Africa based officials, Mr Simphiwe Mabhele and Ms Resh Mehta.
On the three-day course for the 30 government officials on detection of forced labour on commercial fishing vessels, all the officials held the same opinion that this was an acute problem even in South Africa, although evidence remained largely anecdotal.
However, reliance on anecdotal evidence should come to and end before year-end as the ILO in South Africa is currently conducting a thorough study of the country’s commercial fishing sector to establish some baseline information on both its size as well as activities.
According to the ILO, the fishing sector globally has a high prevalence of forced labour, with an estimated 128,000 fishers trapped in forced labour at any given time.
Apparently, key contributing factors to the malaise of rights violations in the fisheries sector involve the combination of weaknesses in the labour inspection regime, poor working conditions, and overlapping legislation, sometimes leading also to labour exploitation involving non-payment of wages, excessive working hours, and inadequate safety measures.
South Africa ratified the ILO Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188), which sets international labour standards for fishing vessels and fishers and was among the first countries globally to implement it.
The ILO’s Capacity Building Programme aims to strengthen the capacity of the South African government, SAMSA, DFFE, and DEL inspectors to detect and identify forced labour on fishing vessels.
The training components included sessions on international labour standards, identification of forced labour indicators, links between illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and forced labour, inspection protocols, and the collection of evidence.
The 30 officials attending the ILO course were taken through various aspects of both international and domestic law, and current best practices in forced labour detection. Presentations by subject experts in the field included:
- South Africa’s national legislations applicable to fishing sector labour
- Forced labour identification tools and inspection protocols,
- Links between forced labour, human trafficking, and human smuggling in the fishing sector
- Non-government allies in forced labour identification
- Communicable and non-communicable diseases on board fishing vessels
- The piloting of the South African Stardard Operating Procedures (SOP) and referral mechanism
With the course underway at NMU, this blog took advantage of the presence of the various officials and conducted a series of interviews with each of available officials present at the Ocean Sciences Campus.
In addition to his opening remarks of the training workshop (video below) we chatted with Mr Tilayi from SAMSA (last video below) for insights into both the significance of the soon to be entered into MOU with the DEL as well as ongoing training of SAMSA surveyors involved in the commercial fishing subsector. For his views, please click on last video below.
DFFE’s Ms Delricia Augustus (video below) elaborated on the role of the department and its necessary collaboration with SAMSA, the DEL and others on the proper regulation of the fishing sector with respect to sound working conditions of labour.
Dr Pravine Naidoo of the DEL (video below) spoke at length about why it mattered that the department strengthens its presence and activities in the country’s commercial fishing, sector as well as on expectations of outcomes of its formalised close collaboration with SAMSA, alongside the DFFE.
Next up were the two ILO officials, Mr Mabhele and Ms Mehta, (respective videos below) wherein highlights included an overview of the ILO’s relations with South Africa on maritime sector conventions, specifically the Working in Fishing Convention, 2007 (C.188) and subsequent conventions, ongoing engagements inclusive of continued training of inspectorate officials, as well as the research currently underway in the country’s commercial fishing sector, and due for publication in September this year.
End.