Department fiddles while crew members jump ship

The Mari­time Uni­on says the Depart­ment of Labour’s stance on two Viet­namese fish­er­men who have jumped ship in Nel­son is unac­cept­able.

Mari­time Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Tre­vor Han­son says the Depart­ment of Labour has stated in the media it will not act until form­ally noti­fied by the fish­ing ves­sel char­ter­ers that crew mem­bers are miss­ing.

“In this case, the two miss­ing crew mem­bers have obvi­ously jumped ship from the Sky 75, like the ten Indone­sian crew mem­bers before them, and these two fish­er­men are prob­ably liv­ing rough.”

Mr Han­son says the Depart­ment of Labour must stop hid­ing behind leg­al tech­nic­al­it­ies and front up to a ser­i­ous issue.

“The Gov­ern­ment must act to ensure the safety and well­being of all crew mem­bers in New Zea­l­and waters, as well as the secur­ity of our ports and bor­ders.”

He says that it is obvi­ous that there are prob­lems in the industry with the mis­treat­ment of for­eign crews.

“The Depart­ment of Labour should be tak­ing a no-non­sense approach to ensure com­pli­ance with New Zea­l­and laws and reg­u­la­tions in the fish­ing industry.”

Mr Han­son says it appears little action has been taken on a damning Depart­ment of Labour report into the mis­treat­ment of for­eign fish­ing crews that was made pub­lic earli­er this year.

ENDS

For fur­ther inform­a­tion con­tact:

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Tre­vor Han­son on (04) 801 7614 or 0274 453 532