Human Rights in Fishing

14 November 2018

Fishing is one of the most dangerous professions in the world. Our risk assessments and investigations have shown us that this can be a high-risk industry as a result of informal employment practices, the work taking place offshore, and long working hours. In some parts of the global fishing sector there have been incidences of forced labour and other human rights abuses.

We believe that no workers involved in our seafood supply chains should be mistreated or working in unsafe conditions. During the last year, we have used the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership human rights risk assessment tool to assess all of our UK wild seafood supply chains and have identified a priority list of fisheries. We are now gathering information to better understand the level of risk to workers in these specific priority fisheries and what improvements may be required.

To assist with this, we have worked with our suppliers and other members of the seafood industry to develop a reporting tool through the SEDEX platform, which will be the first widely-used reporting tool for human rights-related information in the fishing sector. The reporting tool went live in February 2018.

ILO Work in Fishing Convention

We actively support the ratification and implementation of the ILO Work in Fishing Convention – an international agreement designed to improve working conditions for millions of workers in the fishing sector, and we are working to carry out pilot audits against this standard.

We are also collaborating with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) to engage UK fishing operators within our supply chain on the ILO Work in Fishing Convention. ITF, who have provided invaluable insights from their fieldwork with fishermen around the UK, are helping to provide technical advice and guidance on best practice.

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