Message and Prayer for World Fisheries Day

Source: AoS

World Fisheries Day was established in New Delhi, India, on November 21st, 1997 when for the first time representatives of small-scale, artisanal fishers and fish workers from 32 countries gathered together to form an international fishers' organization and committed themselves to support global sustainable fishing policies, practices and social justice.

To appreciate the importance of celebrating World Fisheries Day, it is enough to consider the FAO 2016 data indicating that 59.6 million people were engaged (on a full-time, part-time or occasional basis) in fisheries and aquaculture. Of these workers nearly 14% of were women. The great majority of the population engaged in these sectors were in Asia (85%), followed by Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. These together supply about 171 million tonnes of fish to the global market, and generate a first-sale value of production estimated at USD 320 billion. Global fish value chains that include production, processing, distribution and trade of fish, provide for the livelihoods of around 820 million people. Fish consumption provides about 3.2 billion people with nearly 20 percent of their animal protein.

Hidden within these significant figures which reveal the importance and contributions of the fishing sectors to food security, economic growth and poverty alleviation, there are countless and persistent challenging issues. Topping the list, aside from physical and verbal abuses, is the massive exploitation of fishers, including numerous cases of forced labor, human trafficking and disappearance at sea. We see direct links between all these abuses and the use of flags of convenience, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, and transnational crime. Besides, we should not forget the challenge of sustaining fish stocks, pollution and other environmental concerns.
From this distressing and painful reality, the fish workers are crying out for help; and, as Church, we cannot shut our ears and we cannot remain silent.

On the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): we would like to reaffirm Article 4 of the Declaration: "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms". Additionally, we wish to recall Article 23, as follows:

• Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
• Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
• Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
• Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

These fundamental labour rights are human rights, and they must be fishers' rights too!

Aware of the many problematic issues in fisheries, Member Countries of the specialized agencies of the United Nations have adopted and endorsed several international instruments that, if ratified and fully implemented by all States, could dramatically change the life of fish workers, of their families and the environmental status of fisheries resources.

The fishing industry, which is considered by many as the main culprit for the difficult working and living conditions of fishers, is committed to solve these problems with product certification, while civil society and consumers are calling the retailers to be more responsible in their business and to exercise due diligence throughout their whole supply chain.

However, from reading the mass media reports on the issue and, most of all from hearing the harrowing stories recounted by the chaplains and volunteers of the Apostleship of the Sea around the world, it seems that all these efforts are not enough, because the number of governments that have ratified the international instruments is still very low and in some small areas, the fishing industry still suffers from the ruthlessness of profit-seeking policy makers.

As a Church, we would like to recall the exhortation of Pope Francis to put people before the profit, as follows: "... Behind every activity there is a human being. [...] The current centrality of financial activity compared to the real economy is not random: behind this there is the choice of someone who thinks, wrongly, that money is made with money. Money, real money, is done with work. It is the work that gives dignity to man, not money".

As we celebrate World Fisheries Day, and as are expect to increase awareness on the situation of fish workers and create fundamental changes in their lives, we would like to call on international agencies, to join hands, putting aside differences, antagonism and rivalry, to develop a roadmap towards widespread ratification and implementation of the international instruments. This cooperation should be pursued at global, regional, national and local levels; and it should ensure the involvement of civil society, industry and retailers, NGOs, trade unions and the Church.

Working together, we can stop human trafficking and forced labor at sea, we can improve the safety of working conditions, and fight IUU fishing, in the hope of creating a socially, environmentally and commercially sustainable fisheries sector.

It is a great challenge but it is also the only hope that we have to reaffirm "the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms" in the global fisheries industry.

Cardinal Peter KA Turkson
Prefect

Prayer for World Fisheries Day

(21 November 2018)

O God, Father and Lord of the universe,

We praise and bless you for having created man and woman, calling them to collaborate in the work of Creation through their labour. Today, World Fisheries Day, we humbly ask you to bless and protect all those involved in the production, processing, distribution and trade of fish, which contributes to food security, economic growth and poverty reduction. As your children, with all confidence we ask you to stop the physical and verbal abuse and the indiscriminate exploitation of fishermen, which includes countless cases of forced labour, human trafficking and disappearances at sea. Free us from these evils that pollute the beauty of life, sea and work, your precious gifts which must be watched over with great care.

O Jesus Christ, our Lord,

urge your Church to listen to fishermen's cries of anguish, who see their human rights and fundamental freedoms trampled underfoot, and to proclaim with prophetic audacity the need for these to be respected and observed. With our hearts in our hands, we ask you to enlighten the minds of the world's leaders, so that they may ratify the international instruments adopted and approved by the member nations of the specialized agencies of the United Nations in order to be able to radically change the lives of workers in the fishing sector and their families and the environmental state of fish stocks. With your passion, death and resurrection, it is you who freed us from the slavery of sin and death, please ensure that no one is kept in a state of slavery or servitude any longer. Give every person the right to work, to the free choice of employment, to just and satisfactory working conditions and to protection against unemployment. Ensure that every person, without discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work, to fair and satisfactory remuneration which ensures s/he and their family a life guaranteeing their human dignity, supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. Grant that every person has the right to create and join trade unions for the defence of his or her own interests and that these fundamental human rights of fishermen are always safeguarded. For all this we pray to you, Lord!

Holy Spirit, gliding over the seas,

convert the hearts and minds of that small element of the fishing industry that continues to be pitiless and to put profit before people. Remind them that people come before profit and that work gives dignity to the person.

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea,

help us work together to stop human trafficking and forced labour at sea, to improve working conditions and safety and to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, thus creating a fisheries sector that is socially, environmentally and commercially sustainable.

Father, through your Son Jesus Christ, at the helm of Peter's vessel, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, lead us through difficulties and hardships to the Heavenly Port.

All praise, glory and honour be to you now and forever and ever.
Amen. Hallelujah!

Read more about the Apostleship of the Sea: www.apostleshipofthesea.org.uk