Overview
Our talk focuses on COVID-19, instability and migrant fish workers. Drawing on interviews with port-based support organizations and various other international organizations, we outline how pre-existing long term structural marginalizations of seafarers in fishing have made fish workers particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of pandemic management policies for seafarers. We focus our analysis on obstacles to crew change and reduced access to crucial shore services, and show how the repatriation of crew and access to shore services is the outcome of negotiation among a constellation of port-based actors. We further examine global governance in fisheries, particularly with respect to the responsibilities and potential roles of flag, port, coastal and home country states; of seafood importing states especially with regard to products made with forced labour, and private sector action. We also explore where Canada stands with regards to particular global governance initiatives, and in terms of migrant fish workers.
