Beginning of November, a research report from the FISH Safety Foundation, entitled Triggering Death, Quantifying the true human cost of global fishing, showed that annually, more than 100,000 persons involved in fishing are killed – a number considerably higher than the 24,000 fisher fatalities per year the ILO previously estimated.
In a foreword, Eric Holliday, CEO of the FISH Safety Foundation and co-author of the study, testifies: “We’ve always known that fishing is one of the most hazardous occupations in the world. What we didn’t realise when we started this research, was just how dangerous it actually is.”
Many countries do not collect information and data about accidents and fatalities in fisheries: “in Africa, for example, insufficient human and financial resources for data collection has often resulted in poor quality information which have limited statistical use.” The report therefore used not only official information, but also news articles, investigative journalism, social media posts, and private communications from individuals and organisations across the globe.
Through as series of case studies, the report looks at the drivers acting on fisher safety, demonstrating that although each fishery is different “yet the fundamental issues faced are the same.” Two of these studies examine African fisheries: maritime artisanal fishers along the West Coast of Africa, and Africa’s artisanal inland fishers.
Collisions with industrial vessels causes artisanal fishers’ deaths in West Africa
In the case of maritime fishers along the west African coast, the authors cite the COMHAFAT which in 2018, outlined that the yearly fatality rate for fishers in the region around 1.000 per 100.000 fishers (1%). Overfishing, legal or illegal, contributes to the scarcity of fish in the region, forcing artisanal fishers, - the vast majority of the 3.5 million fishers in the region-, to go further out and stay longer at sea: “This is done in vessels ill equipped for the longer journeys, increasing their risks of vessel-related incidents. At the same time, they are at risk of collision or conflict with industrial fleets, piracy, and boundary dispute.”
“The scarcity of fish is forcing artisanal fishers to go further out and stay longer at sea, with ill-equipped vessels””
The finger is pointed particularly at collisions between artisanal pirogues and industrial vessels, typically coastal trawlers of foreign origin coming to fish in African countries coastal areas, even where these zones are legally reserved for artisanal fishers. The report quotes the organization Ecotrust Canada, which highlighted that “in west Africa, collisions with industrial vessels kill over 250 artisanal fishers annually. Across Africa, the toll may be as high as 1000 deaths per year.”
Adding to that are the effects of climate change, which causes more storms, cyclones, posing increased risks to the lives of fishers.
Overfishing, unpredictable weather and wildlife attacks lead to loss of fishers lives on Africa’s lakes
The study also explores the risks to Africa artisanal inland fishers’ safety, looking particularly at lakes fisheries: Victoria, Kariba, Naivasha, Albert. Weather has become more unpredictable, due to the impacts of climate change, with more frequent more severe storms, and this is contributing to increased accidents on the lakes in Africa. Moreover, “due to the combined impacts of food insecurity, poverty and falling fish stocks, fishermen are frequently having to travel into deeper water, or fish in bad weather, increasing the risks to their safety.”
In inland fisheries, one of the biggest risks for fishers are attacks by wildlife, mostly hippopotamus and crocodiles. Photo: Chris Stenger.
The report also points out the risk posed by wildlife. As human populations and pressures on the natural environment increase, wildlife attacks are also more frequent. In Africa, the biggest risks come from hippopotamus and crocodiles. For example, in the first 3 months of 2020 alone, hippopotamus killed 9 people in the South Lake area of Lake Naivasha.
In the EU, only a third of EU vessels are covered by health and safety legislation
If African countries and other developing countries are facing important challenges for recording accidents and fatalities in the fishing sector, particularly artisanal, the problem is global. Indeed, even in some high-income countries, with the best reporting systems in place, records do not always cover all accidents and fatalities in the sector.
In the EU, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) fatality data indicates that there are on average 27 deaths per year in EU fishing vessels over 15m. However, both the total number of fishers on smaller vessels, which roughly accounts for half of the work force in EU fisheries, and the number of fatalities on these vessels are not published. The authors highlight that “only a third of EU vessels are covered by legislation that addresses the health and safety, and working time, of fishers. Extreme working conditions and sleep deprivation contribute to mistakes and unnecessary risk-taking behaviour.”
“We need better data!”
The report provides a good overview of the drivers of fatalities in the global fishing sector – overfishing, - legal and illegal-, climate change being determining factors. But the main results of the study are elsewhere. As the authors point out: “after 18 months of in-depth research, we are left with two crucial findings: one, the number of annual fatalities in the global fishing sector is significantly higher than previously thought, and two, we still don’t know just how many lives are lost every year! We need better data.”
There are currently no regulatory requirements to report accidents and fatalities in most countries, with little or no reporting, recording, formal investigations and analysis of accidents and fatalities taking place in the fishing sector. A particularly forgotten part of the sector is the artisanal sector, where lost lives leave hardly any trace.
The study highlights the urgent need to address these shortcomings, including the need to establish a consistent data collection system and repository on fisher accidents and mortality. It also insists that finger should not be pointed at individual countries that report high number of accidents and fatalities in their fishing sector. They, at least, are providing data and should not be penalised for it as it indicates a willingness to look at these problems directly and be part of the solution. As was highlighted by Madagascar at the 35th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, in September 2022: “Improving safety is key. We are losing too many fishers to accidents and through miss-treatment, this is unacceptable and we need to monitor this and find solutions for change.”
For such reporting of data to become incentivized, it may be worth exploring whether existing transparency initiatives, such as the Fisheries Industry Transparency Initiative (FiTI) could consider including the reporting of fishers’ accidents and mortality as part of their standard.
Local artisanal fishers are part of the solution for improving safety at sea
The authors underline that the development of appropriate local and national legislation to record and collect data, and to further develop policies and measures to avoid fishers losses of life “should have clear input from local fishers and communities to address the specific needs of these subsectors,” calling for a focus to be put on those who are in contact with fishers, and therefore best placed to improve safety standards in the fishing sector, “like Port State regulators, Maritime / Fisheries Departments, and Compliance and Enforcement officials).”
It is important to point out that fishers themselves should be involved in such process, in particular in countries like Senegal, one of the 6 African countries that have ratified the ILO Convention 188 on work in the fishing sector, a convention that also covers artisanal fisheries. In Senegal, artisanal fishers organisations are making efforts to improve fishers safety, like promoting the use of geolocalisation tools, or training pirogues captains for better safety on board, as part of the implementation of the ILO Convention 188.
Women, - who are the mothers, wives of fishers - have also a role to play. “When the government tells fishers to wear a life jacket, the fisher will often ignore it, but when it is his worried mother or his wife who tells him, then he will do it,” highlights Gaoussou Gueye, president of the African Confederation of Artisanal Fishing Organisations (CAOPA).
All stakeholders in the fishing sector have a role to play to make the world oceans safer for fishers.
Banner photo: Fishing in Ilondé, by Carmen Abd Ali.
In this article, the author underscores the ecological and social impacts of Norwegian intensive salmon farming, including the impact on food security in West Africa. The author remarks that while on the one hand, the European Union promotes fish for human consumption in Africa, on the other, the EU also opens wide its market gates for Norwegian farmed salmon, which is fed West African fish.