GSS, ILO to survey decent work in marine fishing

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), will this year survey decent work on marine fishing to measure working conditions.

The survey is also expected to assess any potential gaps in decent work, including fundamental principles and rights at work, with findings aimed at informing policy and programme development for the protection of the working rights of fishers.

The National Steering Committee (NSC) for the survey is expected to meet again in July to design modalities for the commencement of the survey which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The survey, which touches on diverse thematic areas, include "hours and stays on the vessel, contracts and wages, health and safety, living conditions, as well as recruitment and travel to the vessel".

Data

At the inception workshop for the steering committee for the survey in Accra, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Annim, said there was a need for data to make very informed policies that would help in the sustainable development of the sector.

He indicated that decision-making must be data-driven to avoid making decisions that were not practical or not in sync with realities in the marine fishing sector.

Prof. Annim added that the country needed to own and conceptualise its survey and to help raise standards to ensure the quality of data, and not to rely extensively on data from other organisations.

He said the data must positively impact the lives of people, with a collectively defined decent work to reflect the country's understanding of the phenomenon.

Sector issues

Also speaking at the workshop, Senior Economist at the ILO, Dr Francisca Francavilla, said there was the need to abolish child and forced labour in the marine fishing sector which was one of the common situations the sector had been facing.

These issues, she said, were against ILO's fundamental principles and rights at work. She added that central to the organisation's decent work indicators, framework were "decent working time; occupational safety and health at work; adequate earnings productive work, employment opportunities; and stability and security of work; and non-discrimination".

She indicated that forced labour, child labour and trafficking were persisting in the marine fishing industry and must be strategically tackled to reduce the menace. She noted that the UN General Assembly in September 2015 outlined four pillars of decent work, which include "employment, social protection, rights at work and social dialogue".

That, she said, must be well covered in the survey to be conducted to arrive at very conclusive findings on all areas affecting the sector.