Tenaganita voices concern over vulnerable fishermen
21 June 2017 Print page
Survey conducted by Tenaganita finds ‘inhumane’ living and working conditions as well as issues of drug use, child recruitment and lack of sexual education.
PETALING JAYA: Ahmad, a 35-year-old fisherman, braves the harsh elements at sea 10 hours a day but earns just enough to support his daughter studying at a primary school in Thailand.
It was because of his daughter that the Kedah resident walked away from drug-taking – crystal methamphetamine, to be exact – and quit his visits to sex workers.
But despite giving all that up, like other fishermen Tenaganita interviewed in a recent survey, Ahmad’s life remains a struggle as he still faces “inhumane” living and working conditions on a daily basis.
The survey, titled “No Such Thing As Calm”, highlights the vulnerability of local and migrant fishermen in Malaysia and the issues they face.
These include poor living and working conditions, drug use, harassment by the authorities, child recruitment, and lack of education and access to HIV services and sexual education.
The survey involved interviews with some 130 respondents, aged 18 to 66, in Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, Kedah, Johor and Kelantan. It was a joint effort of Tenaganita, Malaysian AIDS Council, Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (Ceria) and WWF Malaysia.
While the findings paint a grim picture of the lives of fishermen, Tenaganita admitted they might not be representative of the 100,000 fishermen in Malaysia or the industry as a whole.
The fishermen sampled were those involved in deep sea fishing on large vessels which stay out at sea up to weeks at a time.
The findings were revealed at the launch of the survey report at Tenaganita’s headquarters today.
Tenaganita’s Liva Sreedharan, one of the lead researchers of the project, highlighted the “transient and unstable” nature of the lives of fishermen who had no basic employment rights and suffered from poverty spanning generations. Some were also migrants.
“None of the respondents was given a work contract, irrespective of whether they were local or migrant, meaning they were excluded from social security benefits or paid leave,” she said.
She added that the rough conditions at sea and lack of adequate safety equipment and practices put fishermen at risk of injury on a daily basis.
“Of the respondents, 65% said they heard of fishermen dying at sea, while half said they themselves were worried about dying at sea.”
Liva also said only 28% of respondents reported poor or very poor living conditions, although this view had to be interpreted with caution given that the living conditions were relative and the majority of respondents was from the low-income group.
“None of the boats the respondents worked on had proper flush toilets. Some of the fishermen hung on outside the boat to relieve themselves. On top of this, the sleeping places were crammed and smelled of oil,” she said.
Liva noted that 37 of the respondents reported using drugs, which included heroin, pil kuda and methadone, in the past 30 days with the majority saying they needed the high to work.
In the areas of sexual risk behaviour and sexual health literacy, the survey showed that 56% of respondents did not use condoms during sex with their primary partner.
Sixteen said they frequented female sex workers, a habit which increased their exposure to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Several respondents even stated that they did not use condoms and insisted they could pick disease-free women based on their appearance.
Liva said some fishermen had misconceptions about condoms and HIV transmission.
She also noted that 11 of the 34 migrant respondents had been recruited as fishermen before they turned 18, with one even recruited at eight years of age. Some respondents also reported harassment by the authorities.
Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das said based on the findings, they have recommended new regulations to ensure fishermen were hired on a contractual basis. They have also recommended that the fishermen’s occupational safety and health be improved.
Relevant government agencies should also consider organising programmes to address nutritional deficiencies among fishermen as well as the inclusion of proper sanitation on boats.
“Sustained and frequent sexual health literacy programmes should be organised for fishermen,” she said, adding that routine HIV and STI testing should be encouraged.
“Emphasis should be placed on equitable access to healthcare for migrants, including resource allocation for migrant health.”
Glorene also said financial literacy training and support should be provided to fishermen, and that migrant fishermen should be allowed to keep their passports and other travel documents in line with the Passports Act 1966.
Meanwhile, Tenaganita director Aegile Fernandez said the Sarawak government had taken serious measures to deal with issues faced by fishermen, including inviting NGOs like Tenaganita to train civil servants and enforcement officers on the issues in the fishing industry.
She added that Sarawak had made it compulsory for fishing companies to enter into written contracts with their local and migrant workers.
“So in the case of migrant workers, we will know they belong to a certain company even if the captains are holding their passports.”
Aegile said this was something which could be emulated at the national level.
She said everyone had a role to play to improve industry conditions, as consumers should question where their fish comes from and look at fishermen as a vulnerable group.
Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/06/21/tenaganita-voices-concern-over-vulnerable-fishermen/#sthash.cdvdGJ9c.dpuf