Wages, working conditions and living standards remain significant risks in fisheries. Many fishers are paid through share of catch or production-based catch bonus systems that create income instability and incentivise excessive hours and unsafe practices. Workers face deductions for food, equipment, recruitment costs or transport that reduce earnings below acceptable standards. Wages are also withheld outright or paid only at the end of a contract whose length the operator controls – a practice that binds a fisher to the vessel and is an indicator of forced labour per the ILO. Living conditions aboard vessels are inseparable from working conditions. Inadequate accommodation, overcrowding, poor ventilation, insufficient food and limited access to communication can negatively affect health and wellbeing and prolonged periods at sea can further intensify these impacts. ILO Convention 188 sets requirements for accommodation, food and water aboard fishing vessels; across much of the world's fishing fleet they are not met. For more on wages, working and living conditions, see the Risks Across Transport guidance.
WORKFORCE CHALLENGES
The fisheries sector also faces workforce challenges linked to shortage of decent work and ageing workforces. The resulting labour shortages and difficulties attracting and retaining workers are driven by poor working conditions, insecure employment, safety concerns, extended periods away from home and limited career progression. Fishing faces the same drivers of shortage as the rest of transport – poor conditions, weak enforcement, sustained pressure on labour standards – but in a sharper form. Lengthy periods beyond territorial waters, fragmented flag-state responsibility and a predominately migrant workforce leave it with the least effective enforcement and the widest gap between standards on paper and conditions in practice. Recruitment practices create their own human rights risks. Fishers face deceptive recruitment, excessive fees, contracts they cannot read or were never given, and dependence on intermediaries — all of which raise exposure to exploitation and forced labour. Retention is further undermined by unstable earnings, poor conditions aboard and weak enforcement of standards, particularly on FONC-registered vessels. Women, young workers and migrant workers often face additional barriers to entry, retention and advancement. The declining attractiveness of fishing as a career, particularly among younger workers, deepens shortages, yet the sector's response has been to recruit from further afield through longer intermediary chains, which compounds the risks set out in this section. Globally, fisheries do not have a labour supply problem; it has a decent work deficit. While well-paid, well-regulated fisheries exist – for example parts of the Norwegian, Icelandic and Alaskan fleets – but they account for a far smaller share of the global workforce than their equivalents other transport sectors. For most of the world's fishers, low and insecure earnings, high fatality rates and limited access to remedy are the norm rather than the exception. These risks can undermine workforce sustainability and increase operational disruption throughout seafood supply chains. For more on workforce challenges, see the Risks Across Transport guidance.