Fishing Bill a major step towards fixing industry problems

The Mar­itime Union says the pass­ing of a bill today 31 July 2014 reform­ing the fish­ing indus­try is a major step in fix­ing seri­ous prob­lems.

The Fish­eries (For­eign Char­ter Ves­sels and Oth­er Mat­ters) Amend­ment Bill was passed today in Par­lia­ment, after recent con­cerns that delays would see it pushed down the list until next year.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Nation­al Sec­re­tary Joe Fleet­wood says the bill is cul­mi­na­tion of many years of work.

“The exploita­tion and abuse which have gone on aboard these ships of shame will remain a stain on New Zealand’s his­to­ry.”

Mr Fleet­wood says the reflag­ging of FCVs under the New Zealand flag under the new law will improve stan­dards in the indus­try but prop­er enforce­ment was required.

He says the Mar­itime Union had assist­ed for­eign crews, and advo­cat­ed for jobs for New Zealand work­ers in a high pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, val­ue added indus­try, for many years.

New Zealand had become the focus of media atten­tion in the Unit­ed States after a major inves­tiga­tive arti­cle in the busi­ness press exposed the prac­tices where for­eign fish­ing crews had been mis­treat­ed, abused and exploit­ed.

The Union had also met with Unit­ed States State Depart­ment Ambas­sador at Large Luis Cde Baca dur­ing his vis­it to New Zealand to inves­ti­gate inter­na­tion­al forced labour and human traf­fick­ing in the fish­ing indus­try.

“The Mar­itime Union will con­tin­ue work­ing as part of a glob­al cam­paign by the Inter­na­tion­al Work­ers’ Trans­port Fed­er­a­tion to improve work­ing con­di­tions and stan­dards in the fish­ing indus­try.”