In Summary

The ETF Fisheries Section fights to improve working conditions, safety and training for over 150,000 women and men who work as fishers across Europe. It includes, for example, promoting wider ratification and enforcement of the ILO Work in Fishing Convention (C188) by European countries.

Fisheries is one of the most dangerous sectors; therefore, we mainly focus on improving working conditions on board. Considering the severe demographic problem impacting fisheries for too many years, ensuring better working conditions and decent pay for fishers in Europe is crucial.

It is equally important to improve the sector’s attractiveness and make it more suitable with good jobs for young people and women. A key aspect of a better future in the fisheries is to offer access to specialised qualifications and training and to have mutual recognition of technical certifications in place.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic complicated things even more. It was not just putting fisher’s jobs and incomes at risk. Overnight, the sector had also to face a severe deterioration of working conditions for its workers. The number of reported abuses and breaching of human and labour rights on board fishing vessels in EU waters has considerably increased. And migrant workers were more exposed to it. In this respect, our goal is to act decisively and bring the needed changes to the regulatory framework or claim for re-enforcement of existing rules wherever necessary.

In a sector deficiently governed at the EU level by the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), we fight to bring some balance by placing the people working in the industry at the core of the future revisions of the CFP. Our main aim is to embed a social solid conditionality principle in the new CFP, including for the EU funding.

The Fisheries Section is also active in many Advisory Councils that advise the European Commission on implementing the CFP.

Another priority is to play a more active role within the social dialogue and find the best ways to move forward with ratifying and implementing the ILOC188 international standards. Also, we want to act to impose an EU rule that bans the import of fish products in the EU from non-EU fleets/countries where there is evidence of labour abuses.

In addition, the ETF Fisheries Section and its affiliates continue to focus part of their joint work on monitoring the developments of offshore wind farms and their impact on fisheries. We also invest efforts in following the reform of fisheries’ fuel taxation and its impact on jobs and pay in the sector, as well as on the problem of litter at sea (in particular, plastics) for fishers.

Furthermore, the Fisheries Section focuses on identifying possible management tools to improve the social, economic and environmental sustainability of fishing activities in the Mediterranean Sea.