Violence and harassment

Fishers work in isolated, confined and steeply hierarchical environments that increase exposure to bullying, intimidation and physical violence. Vessels are closed workplaces: prolonged periods at sea and minimal external oversight create environments where abuse remains hidden and unreported

Power imbalances – particularly between the captain and crew – normalise harassment or leave it unchallenged. Fishers face verbal abuse, threats and coercion tied to catch, discipline or workload. Physical violence aboard fishing vessels is documented at a severity found in few other workplaces. Women fishers, still a small minority of the workforce, face heightened risk of gender-based violence and harassment, including sexual assault, compounded by the absence of gender-sensitive policies, reporting mechanisms and facilities on board.

Violence and harassment intersect with discrimination and forced labour. Migrant fishers are disproportionately targeted, especially where there is dependence on an employer or broker that limits access to protection and remedy. Fear of retaliation, dismissal or exclusion from future work deters reporting. Abuse also occurs in ports, in recruitment processes and in worker accommodation ashore, not only at sea.

Transport is recognised as one of the sectors most exposed to violence and harassment under ILO Convention 190, which confirms that violence and harassment are occupational safety and health risks to be prevented and remediated as such. 

In fisheries the absence of safe reporting channels, restricted communication and the impossibility of leaving compound every one of these risks. Violence and harassment at sea are not isolated incidents but systemic risks built into working conditions, governance gaps and weak enforcement – and they undermine workplace safety and contribute to labour shortages by driving people out of the sector and deterring others from entering.

For more on violence and harassment, discrimination, isolation and lone working, and forced labour and human trafficking, see the Risks Across Transport guidance.