March 6, 2006

The Mari­time Uni­on has wel­comed New Zea­l­and sign­ing up to an inter­na­tion­al crack­down on illeg­al fish­ing – which also provides a clear oppor­tun­ity to solve the abuse and exploit­a­tion of mari­time work­ers.

Fish­er­ies min­is­ters from Aus­tralia, Bri­tain, Canada, Chile, Nam­i­bia and New Zea­l­and have agreed to a plan which will mean glob­al track­ing of fish­ing ves­sels, as well as an online data­base of their names, loc­a­tion and his­tory, to help uncov­er illeg­al fish­ing.

Mari­time Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Tre­vor Han­son says the plan means that “half of the prob­lem” is being ser­i­ously addressed.