Melissa
MARSCHKE

PROJECT

Work at Sea: Exploring how migrant workers faceunacceptable working conditions inindustrial fisheries

Work at sea is distinct given the nature of the fishing environment, which includes long, intense working hours, frequent storms, and working and sleeping in the same space. Cases of forced labour, including instances of withheld wages, verbal abuse, violence at sea, and being tied to one’s employer continue to emerge. Unacceptable work at sea is perpetuated by a reliance on migrant labour, a lack of unionization amoung fish workers, weak policy, and differences in policy interpretation at ports.The seafood industry is facing a labour crisis. This project pays attention into ways that working conditions on the oceans can be improved, through examining campaigns to improve migrant fish work in the European context and assessing best practices for policy and supply chain governance. The project further pays attention to ports of global significance, as spaces where migrant fish workers intersect with a range of port-based actors who can impact (positively, but also negatively) migrant fish worker lives.

BIOGRAPHY

Melissa Marschke is Professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies, at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and focuses on labour, livelihood and sustainability challenges.