On the 2 April 2025, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries met in the Parliamentary Estate to discuss urgent matters of Recruitment and Labour in the UK fishing industry.
At the APPG's event attendees heard from a range of panellists from the catching and processing sectors, alongside public and civil society organisations who together explored challenges surrounding recruitment and labour facing the sector.
Panellists offered insights into the scale and nature of the challenges facing the industry and wider sector, alongside efforts underway and needed to tackle these – from sector appropriate training schemes to visas, and measures to safeguard the welfare of those working in the sector, and ensure the industry offers a viable career for the next generation.
HRAS International Submissions
As part of the meeting’s discussion, David Hammond (Executive Director, Human Rights at Sea International) detailed a recently completed worker voice survey in Northern Ireland by HRASi, investigating the current narrative of systemic exploitation of foreign crews. With a report forthcoming and based on a sample size of 92%, he highlighted that over the course of that work a hostile environment was not found [but] an imbalance in the narrative surrounding this issue, however, was. Fishermen want to go to sea, and they are going to defend themselves against media portrayals that this is a systemic issue, he said.
Agreeing with Mike Park and Chris Williams, Hammond continued by outlining that HRASi had found that within the origin country, rather than in the UK, debt bondage by agents and illegal recruitment fees were potentially systemic issues. However, the survey had not found systemic issues in Northern Ireland. A variation in contract, linked to Skilled Worker visas, and crews on this type of visa that would not meet the English language requirement had been uncovered, and this had been put to the Home Office for investigation.
Adding to this, the speaker highlighted that one of the main findings of the survey was that skippers were a critical vulnerability point, and remained outside of the frame. The pressure on skippers was a serious issue which needed to be addressed with support – not only physical and financial, but with mental health support also.
ENDS.
Source: APPG on Fisheries
Photo: APPG on Fisheries via Mindfully Wired
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