Forced and compulsory labour in the fishing industry
In the fishing industry, people are subjected to forced labour when they take up jobs on fishing vessels through recruitment agencies or brokers.
They pay fees for recruitment, identity documents, residence and work permits, transport and commissions to the broker – often over a period of months or years. In the worst-case scenario, the intermediaries confiscate the documents or forge them, leaving the workers completely dependent on them and trapping them in debt bondage. Similar structures can also be found amongst workers in fish processing plants (see ‘Employment relationship’).