Why is the Irish fishing industry in the headlines? A year-long investigation that the Guardian newspaper published this week, as part of its Modern D-day Slavery in Focus series, claimed that illegal African and Asian migrant workers have been routinely used as cheap labour on some Irish fishing vessels, earning a fraction of local pay and working days on end with little sleep and no freedom in some cases. It reported that undocumented Ghanaian, Filipino, Egyptian and Indian fishermen were being brought into Britain and then through Belfast to the Republic, using a loophole first identified by the Scottish fleet that lets non-EU seafarers transit through Britain for up to 48 hours.
But don't most people in the fishing industry experience long hours, no sleep and antisocial conditions? Yes, if you're a skipper or crew in the whitefish sector, which makes up the bulk of the dwindling Irish fleet. The supertrawlers working from the northwest have conditions that most would envy, but fishing is still a hard and dangerous occupation. Irish vessels work in some of Europe's richest grounds but struggle to survive on a quota system geared towards the larger EU players, among them Spain, France and the Netherlands.
How long has this been going on? During the economic boom, crews opted for jobs in construction, and as margins became tighter vessel owners signed up to State-backed decommissioning schemes. Those who remained in the industry were forced to seek skilled crew abroad – that applies to other EU-flagged vessels, too. The industry says that it has been seeking a work-permit scheme since 2005-6 and that the vast majority of foreign nationals, working on a share or fixed-wage system, are happy to be employed on higher pay than they would earn at home. If there are abuses, they relate to a minority of vessel owners, the industry says. Initially, many eastern Europeans were recruited, but Filipinos, Egyptians and Ghanaians quickly earned a reputation for hard work and for skills ranging from net-mending to seamanship. There were no issues with alcohol, although one skipper told this newspaper that he was always a bit worried about fishing during Ramadan, in case his Muslim crew would pass out on deck when fasting.
Does it sound as if vessel owners opted for cheaper labour? That's certainly the view of the International Transport Workers' Federation, which has done valiant work in the merchant-marine sector. Ken Fleming of the federation says that he has been trying to raise the issue for a decade. He claims that there are 8,000 migrant workers among 11,000 working in both the fishing and seafood sectors, and that 6,000 of these are undocumented. But Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the Irish Sea Fisheries Board, estimates total employment on 1,273 active Irish-registered fishing vessels at 3,100, with non-EU fishermen accounting for about 5 per cent of this, or 155 for 2013. Still, one case of abuse is one too many, and Migrant Rights Centre ofIreland says it is handling 17 live cases involving fishing crew, plus two cases of potential trafficking where crew were driven over the Border and weren't sure which port or state they were in.
So is nobody regulating what's going on? The fishing industry works in a goldfish bowl of surveillance and regulations. Everyone who steps on a vessel must have a Bord Iascaigh Mhara card to show that he or she has undergone mandatory safety training. In the past five years a third of fatalities on Irish-registered fishing vessels have been foreign nationals, according to the Marine Casualty Investigation Board. Such has been the focus on safety that it is very likely that undocumented migrants were among the participants on those Bord Iascaigh Mhara safety courses. Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney has set up an interdepartmental task force, amid calls by the International Transport Workers' Federation and Migrant Rights Centre Ireland for an amnesty rather than a rash of Garda spot checks and deportations. One Egyptian crewman was arrested in west Cork within 48 hours of the Guardian report's publication.
Should I stop eating Irish-caught fish? No, but sustainable catches cost money. The Irish whitefish fleet is competing in a tough market. German banks have been financing the Spanish fleet – sometimes with poorly paid crews – to catch fish off this coast that could be sold cheaply to Germany. Migrant Rights Centre Ireland stresses that trafficking is still most prevalent in the domestic and home-care sector. It says we desperately need an immigration system that is fit for purpose.
