Why we should be giving the fishers more voice in 2025
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Alan McCulla, Coordinator, International Fund for Fishing Safety Secretariat
Alan is Coordinator for IFFS, which was set up by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, The Seafarers’ Charity, and FISH Platform.
Fishers across the world have to be seen and heard more often, argues Alan McCulla Coordinator, International Fund for Fishing Safety Secretariat as he reflects on 12 months of work by the IFFS.
Fishers lives matter
A whole year has gone by. A year of challenge. A year of opportunity. And a year when we have seen the International Fund for Fishing Safety (IFFS) make real change for fishers across the world.
I speak to a lot of fishers across the world as part of my role with IFFS and if one thing strikes me more than any other it’s that fishers are telling me they feel invisible. Invisible to the rest of the world who they feel neither see them nor hear them. It’s almost as if they are a forgotten people.
And yet, without fishers, seafood supplies would plummet, disrupting global diets and food industries, while marine ecosystems would become imbalanced, and many coastal cultures would lose a vital part of their heritage and livelihoods.
In the meantime, they go out in all winds and weathers, battling the waves and the unpredictability of the ocean. It isn’t for nothing that fishing is seen as one of the most dangerous occupations in the world.
World Risk Poll suggests around 28 million wild catch fishers have never received any occupational safety and health training in their profession
The Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll suggests around 28 million wild catch fishers have never received any occupational safety and health training in their profession. That’s close to three quarters of the world’s fisher population. Against this background, is it any wonder the accident rate and ultimately number of deaths amongst the global fisher population is so high?
It's why the IFFS is a get up and go organisation: we have to be as lives depend on it. Last year, we committed £220,000 for projects supporting training and safety across Africa and Asia as well as further emerging projects in Latin America.
We promote a ‘bottom-up’ approach by encouraging local fishers to develop their own training curriculum and materials specific to local circumstances. Even when international fisheries safety regulations have not been ratified, we encourage our applicants to work towards compliance with the same, by providing assistance through the expertise of FISH Platform another one of our founding partners.
The very first IFFS funded project - the Sea Safety Bee Trust in Cape Town, South Africa. Fishing vessel auditors have been trained to deliver a higher standard of support for safety compliance across the fishing fleet in both South Africa and Namibia.
As a result of our first six initiatives, the safety of 65,000 fishers has been directly improved – that’s directly improved and impacted. If we are to achieve anything to improve safety across the world we must have the biggest of ambitions when it comes to reducing accidents and saving lives among global fishers.
Let’s make 2025 the year when fishers feel seen and heard. And most of all, feel safe.