Falklands and the 'darker side' of fishing: crewmen trying to 'jump ship'

Wednesday, May 7th 2014 - 06:42 UTC

Full article 5 comments

Fishing vessels licensed in the Falkland Islands all undergo safety inspections, Director of Natural Resources John Barton confirmed this week, when talking to Penguin News about standards applied to fishing vessels and the working conditions of the crew. He also assured that if a fisherman reports mistreatment an investigation will follow. Read full article

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Idlehands
Highlights that you'd need to be a complete nut to make a career in the fishing industry if you're from a first world country.
May 07th, 2014 - 09:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Briton
'darker side' of the force..
May 07th, 2014 - 10:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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barnowl
FIG will not take serious action against the cashcows bringing revenue via fishing licences to the Islands. It would be interesting to see a breakdown by fishing season of how many observers were placed on these jiggers. From my understanding the conditions are so poor on these vessels that observers are rarely placed on these. If you read the wording of the article carefully, it may have been many years since any observer actually spent time on any of these jiggers. There will be no end soon for bodies of men washing up on Stanley shores.
May 08th, 2014 - 09:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Benson
There are about half a dozen observers working for Fisheries doing about 3 weeks on one week off (if I remember right) on a cross section of all the types of fishing vessels.
May 08th, 2014 - 11:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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barnowl
Benson, you describe what should happen. My understanding is that, due to the conditions on these jiggers, observers are simply not placed on them. There are obvious safety concerns for observers on jiggers (eg poorly maintained safety equipment), poor food, poor accommodation etc. In reality observers are placed on longliners or purse-seiners only.
May 15th, 2014 - 10:57 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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