June 13, 2006

Burmese crew mem­bers aboard the fish­ing ves­sel “Sky 75” in the Port of Timaru have approached uni­ons with a plea for help, a day after their ves­sel was “named and shamed” in an inter­na­tion­al report.

The fish­ing ves­sel “Sky 75” was fea­tured as a spe­cif­ic example of crew abuse in an inter­na­tion­al report from the Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers’ Fed­er­a­tion (ITF) that was presen­ted to a United Nations meet­ing on mari­time law that opened in New York yes­ter­day.

New Zea­l­and ITF co-ordin­at­or Kathy Whelan says the “Sky 75” is a repeat offend­er, and the ves­sel had already come to the atten­tion of the ITF when 10 Indone­sian crew left the Korean registered fish­ing ves­sel ‘Sky 75’ in the Port of Nel­son in Septem­ber 2005.