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Isolation is the defining condition of work in fishing, and the major reason every other risk here goes unseen. A fisher on a distant-water vessel may go months, or even years, without setting foot ashore, without contact with family, and without any means of reaching an authority, a union or a

Fishing is inherently global and mobile. Fishers regularly cross jurisdictions and may be recruited in one country through intermediaries based in another, employed under laws in a third, and working in the waters of a fourth country or international waters. On the high seas a vessel is subject to

Subcontracting and complex ownership structures obscure accountability. Vessel ownership, management, crewing and recruitment are often separated across multiple entities, making it difficult to identify responsibility for labour standards and remedy. Flags of Non-Compliance compound this. 

Fishers

The ITF classifies a flag a Flags of Non-Compliance (FONC) where any one of the following applies: 

• The flag state does not prevent IUU fishing and labour abuse, and lacks proper measures for the safety and welfare of fishers regardless of where beneficial ownership sits
• The flag state denies or fails

Fishing is characterised by systemic conditions that create heightened human and labour rights risks. Fishing vessels operate across vast geographical areas, often far from ports, regulators and support services, and outside national waters and jurisdictions. 

Fishers spend weeks or months at sea

Fishing is the most dangerous work in the world. The ILO recognises it as a high-risk sector for forced labour and human trafficking, and the conditions that make it so are systemic. 

Vessels operate far from ports, regulators and support services. Fishers, often migrant workers, spend weeks or

Seafarers do not only work on board – they also live there. Many seafarers are denied the basic necessities for decent living conditions and health and wellbeing, including regular and nutritious meals, drinking water, heating and cooling, light, electricity, or internet to communicate with their

Seafarers always work within a crew, yet isolation is particularly pronounced in maritime
shipping. Voyages run up to the Maritime Labour Convention maximum of 11 months. Isolation is matched by confinement, with seafarers working and living in their workplace, under the employer’s control, with