By Pita Ligaiula in Manila, Philippines
The Indonesian Migrant Worker Union (SBMI) has delivered a strong message to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC22), calling for an end to at-sea transshipment, full observer coverage and urgent action to enforce new labour standards designed to prevent abuse of crew working on distant-water vessels.
Speaking during the Tuna Commission’s discussion of the Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC21) report, SBMI said the region’s fisheries rules “only matter when the people who work at sea are protected,” urging members not to delay critical reforms.
“I am here representing the Indonesian Migrant Worker Union or SBMI. We thank the TCC Chair for the presentation and hard work for all these years,” the group said.
“We appreciate and support the submission of the TCC Chair on the obligations for review by the Compliance Monitoring Scheme (CMS) in 2026.”
SBMI used its intervention to push for major changes, starting with the practice of at-sea transshipment – a long-running flashpoint in the Commission.
“SBMI strongly supports phasing out transshipment at sea,” the group said.
“Beyond the lack of effective catch monitoring, ending at-sea transshipment is essential for protecting the crew. With the adoption of the Labour Standards CMM, CCMs have committed to preventing forced labour, a risk heightened by prolonged isolation at sea, which transshipment enables.”
The union also called for a dramatic increase in monitoring coverage across the region’s fleets.
“We support calls to progressively increase observer coverage, both on board and electronic monitoring. We strongly support member states to push for observer coverage for all vessels to up to 100 percent from the current 5 percent.”
SBMI welcomed New Zealand’s draft audit points for the implementation of the new labour standards CMM but warned that the issue has slipped from the Commission’s formal workplan.
“We realised that the discussion of the audit points for the CMM Labour Standard is not explicitly included in the TCC Workplan 2025-2027,” the union said.
“We call the Commission to accelerate the readiness for effective implementation of CMM Labour Standards by prioritising its audit points discussion among members, its finalisation and adoption, which all to be done at the latest by 2027.”
SBMI said the stakes are clear and the Tuna Commission must choose to protect people as well as fish.
“We all know that WCPFC rules only matter when the people who work at sea are protected. Our decisions today will define whether this region stands for dignity or for neglect.
Protecting people protects our fishery. Let us move forward, protecting the people who make this fishery possible,” said the Union.
