The FISH Standard for Crew has responded to the Human Rights at Sea Fisheries and Aquaculture certifications review enabling ongoing collaboration for the development of better rights protections for fishing crews and pathways to effective remediation.

As part of the ongoing certifications review project, Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) requested voluntary responses to several questions focusing on awareness of, recording, tracking and remediation against known and/or suspected abuses during FISH Standard audits.

FISH Standard Response

The FISH Standard has reported that since inception, there have been no cases of child labour or forced labour uncovered by the scheme's certification bodies, nor any human rights abuses more generally.

The Standard for Crew remains a small certification, with no withdrawals or suspensions to date, including for the four entities currently holding FISH certificates.

The full response can be downloaded and read below.

Human and Labour Rights Instruments

The FISH Standard outlined its pathways for investigating and remedying human and labour rights abuses under the scheme.

These include an immediate suspension for the 'most egregious practices', such as forced labour, and a root cause analysis of any negative audit findings.

In their associated correspondence, The FISH Standard detailed all legal instruments upon which the standard is based.

According to the response, ILO C188 forms the core of the certification, with reference also made to other instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948.

Impartiality and conflicts of interest

In response to HRAS's concerns, the FISH Standard confirmed their anti-corruption regulations imposed upon Board members and certification bodies.

It also explained the role of the voluntary Standards Oversight Committee, which includes figures from civil society and trade unions.

HRAS Comment

HRAS welcomes The FISH Standard's engagement with the HRAS certifications review project, which follows the Aquaculture Stewardship Council's response.

The approach demonstrates a shift towards greater transparency in day-to-day business and access to internal policies. It also provides increased clarity for businesses, NGOs and consumers about the FISH Standard for Crew's attempts to address human and labour rights protections.

However, HRAS has separately highlighted several points of continued concern. These include apparent omissions of parts of ILO 188, as well as the failure to yet publicise the scheme's initial funding sources on the FISH website. 

HRAS further makes it clear that a declared lack of cases of human and/or labour rights abuse within the scheme merits closer scrutiny if a 'clean sheet" of zero identified abuses is being declared.

Previous criticism of the Standard in its assessed failure to detect labour abuses was highlighted by the US-based International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF) led Seafood Working Group in April 2021, to which HRAS is a member.

Looking forward

HRAS and the FISH Standard will aim to continue proactively engaging with one another. The ongoing mutual correspondence will inform the second version of the HRAS Fisheries and Aquaculture Certifications Review, due to be published in late July 2023