3 Crew Members of Indonesian Fishing Vessel Abandoned in Somalia

The Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia centre received complaints from 3 Indonesian crew members who were stranded in Somalia for 6 months.

Investigations by organisations Green Peace and DFW are still underway as labour for migrant fishermen still continues to bring danger to their lives.

Last year, Andy Shen the US project leader for Greenpeace's global tuna campaign said that they had "documented forced labour as the most common form of abuse as they work 18 hours and over without a break. Many are also subject to getting their wages withheld because of recruitment fees as well as physical abuse, dirty water, and inadequate food," as a result of the investigation into the forced labour on fishing vessels in Taiwan.

Moh Abdi Suhufan, the national coordinator of DFW, had also said that: From November 2019-August 2020, the Fishers Centre has received 34 complaints with a total of 92 victims. Reported cases include salary inaccuracy (35%), insurance and social security (23%), facilitation assistance (9%), and physical violence (9%).

The 3 men who have been reported abandoned have previously worked on a Chinese-flagged fishing vessel called Luqing Yuan Yu 211 with a 1-year contract from December 2019-December 2020.

But after the contract period had ended, the fishing company where they worked in China and the recruiting company in Indonesia did not provide certainty about the contract status. So, currently, 3 crew members of the fishing boat are stranded on an island in Somalia.

Moh Abdi Suhufan said that the abandonment of Indonesian fishing vessel crews in Somalia by Chinese fishing vessels showed that "there had not been any improvement in the management of fishery crews in Indonesia's cooperation with China.

"They are victims of poor governance of Indonesian migrant fishing boat crews and the actions of irresponsible manning agents," said Abdi.

Based on the victim's report, they reported this condition to the Indonesian manning agent but did not receive a satisfactory response. "The information we have obtained is that the Indonesian manning agent is PT RCA. Unfortunately, PT RCA, which recruited and dispatched 3 people, was closed and not operating," said Abdi.

In another report submitted to the Fisher centre, the crew of the fishing vessel from Indonesia received inhumane treatment from the captain of the Chinese ship.

"Verbal, physical violence and food they don't deserve because they protest and want to return to Indonesia because the contract period has ended," says Abdi.

After continuous protesting, the 3 members had been transferred from a Chinese fishing boat to a Chinese ship and are now anchored in the Somali port. "They have been transferred 3 times from the Luqing Yuan Yu 211 to the Liao Dong Yu 571 and their last position on the cargo ship Liao Dong Yu 535," Abdi said.

DFW Indonesia has now sent a letter of complaint to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jakarta.

"To help and save Indonesian citizens abroad, we convey this to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that the Indonesian Government can pursue repatriation efforts," Abdi said.

Since operating since 2019, the Fishers centre has received fifty-six complaints from Indonesian fishing vessel crews working at home and abroad.

Currently, the crew is still in Somalia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has communicated with agencies in China and the Chinese government. An alternative port of return will be sought via Singapore.