The Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia, Edhy Prabowo, inaugurated the SAFE Seas* Fishers’ Center in Tegal, Central Java, Indonesia on July 7, 2020. The Center is designed to strengthen the government's effort to protect fishing vessel crews, as well as improve Indonesia’s competitive advantage in the fishery industry.
The lack of awareness about labor rights and acceptable working conditions increase the risk of exploitative practices on fishing vessels, including forced labor and human trafficking. There are more than 2.6 million fisher workers in Indonesia[1] and only 4% of fish workers are aware and understand the risk of working on the fishing vessels. SAFE Seas’ Fishers’ Center will act as a point of service for fishermen to report grievances related to violations of their rights, and to access referral services, as well as information and educational materials related to fish workers’ protection and rights. Through the Center, SAFE Seas aims to end exploitative practices on fishing vessels and to educate workers in the fishing industry about their labor rights and working conditions.
“Fishers’ Center is one of the solutions to solve the problems faced by fishing vessel crews. The ministry is always being reminded to pay attention to the fish workers. I am here on President’s order to protect fishers and always be present to defend fishers’ grievances. I am also told to promote the aquaculture industry, and to ensure that we are not making any harm to the environment,” says the Minister.
Nono Sumarsono, SAFE Seas Project Director, said, “Central Java is the major contributor of fishing vessel crews in Indonesia - so we need to pay attention to them. Fishers’ Center is a home to fishing vessel crews to learn and get information about their rights.”
The opening of the Center was written about in several Indonesia publications including Tagar, Samudranesia, Antara and Tribun Jateng. The article above first appeared here.
*The SAFE Seas project focuses on improving enforcement to combat labor exploitation and decrease social constructs that enable this situation on fishing vessels. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL-31472-17-75-K. This material does not necessarily refelct the views or policies of the United States
[1] IOM, 2016, Report on Human Trafficking, Forced Labour and Fishers Crime in the Indonesian Fishing Industry
