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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

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Technological change is transforming fisheries through electronic monitoring, vessel tracking, automated equipment, digital reporting systems and data-driven management tools. 

While these developments can improve safety, traceability and sustainability, they also create new human rights risks if

The ITF can work with companies to establish clear, context-specific labour standards across fisheries supply chains – covering recruitment, wages, working time, accommodation, occupational safety and health, sanitation, freedom of association and protection from forced labour – and to embed them in

Freedom of association and collective bargaining are fundamental rights and essential enablers of effective HREDD in fisheries. 

Where workers are unable to organise, join trade unions or bargain collectively, other abuses are more likely to occur and remain undetected.

Fishers face severe barriers to

Discrimination is a persistent risk throughout fisheries supply chains, on the grounds of nationality, migration status, gender, race, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and employment status. This is often intensified by the sector’s reliance on migrant labour and complex recruitment

Forced labour and human trafficking are severe and prevalent human rights risks in fisheries. 

Isolation at sea, weak oversight, complex recruitment systems and worker dependency combine to create conditions in which exploitation flourishes undetected – and in which a worker who wants to leave

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

Fishing remains one of the most hazardous occupations in the world, with an estimated 34,000 fishers dying at work every year according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

Fishers face a combination of physical, environmental and psychosocial risks, and prevention requires robust

Working with the ITF on HREDD in road transport follows four stages, each building on the last. 

The process begins with establishing what standards apply and where a company's own commercial terms create risk, moves on to an evidence-based assessment conducted with the workers affected, opens a