Despite, this multi-million-dollar enterprise, mainly controlled by wealthy individuals, the sector is one linked to widespread harassment and discrimination especially working in foreign vessels.
Annually, June 25 is marked as International Seafarers Day. It is a day designed to highlight the many challenges facing our brave men and women working at sea.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the term seafarer means a person, who is employed in any capacity on board a sea-going ship registered in a territory for which the Convention is in force, other than - a warship etc.
In light of this, the Gambia Maritime Administration (GMA) on Wednesday convened a day’s symposium on the theme -‘My Harassment Free Ship’ to help raise awareness on issues relating to the working conditions of seafarers worldwide.
The theme of this year’s event is not only quite apt, but also reflects on the human dimension of the issue as it brings to the fore the dignity, rights and wellbeing of men and women at the heart of maritime industry.
Recently, there are growing concerns with regard to the widespread harassment and discrimination meted out on sailors especially those working in foreign trawlers. This has not only posed concern to many including the sailor community, but also raise eyebrow on the need for government to intervene and address the issue before it is too late.
Many attributed that sometimes foreign agents would forced them to even disembark from their vessels at a foreign country, sometimes at port facilities without facilitating anything like accommodation or food.
Others, alleged that they are made to work in vessels without being issued work contract paper, where they can fall back in the event of unlawful sacking.
In addition, some claimed that they’re sometimes made to sleep in stores where they used to park pipe and other cable within decks of the boats; a scenario they view as ‘unhygienic or appalling’.
This, according to them, is not only good for their health but something that leaves much to be desired.
Seafaring is a noble profession and men and women working in the sector should be treated as such. It is high time government and Labour Department and individual agents address the issue.
It is often said that Gambia youth don’t want to venture into the fishing sector. But from the look of things, some appalling conditions that some agents want to subject our youth into is discouraging many from the fishing sector.
For instance, the Association of Gambia Sailors, which boosts a membership of over 3000 youths and is a growing association is aware of these conditions some of their men are subjected to. On several occasion, they’ve complaint to authorities to engage agents and vessel owners over the plight of their members but to no avail, according to members.
This, they believe is killing the moral of its members in view of the fact that government and the Ministry of Fisheries who should protect them from such exploitation, is keeping a blind eye to their concerns.
Harassment erodes morale, undermine teamwork, while threatening the safety and wellbeing of our sailors. In addition, it also impacts negatively the effectiveness of the country’s maritime operations. As a government, let’s create a maritime environment grounded in zero from harassment and discrimination.
Let’s make sure every seafarer deserves to work in a space where they feel safe, respected and valued.