The British fishing industry operates a discriminatory pay structure, dependent on immigration status and nationality, according to a report by Focus On Labour Exploitation.
‘Voices from the Deck’ found migrant workers were being paid less than their UK counterparts despite doing the same, if not more, work.
Many migrant fishers were employed under a ‘transit loophole’, the term used to refer to contract seaman leave, which fails to recognise them as UK workers and excludes them from national minimum wage protections.
While British crews often operate on a percentage sharing scheme, allowing them to benefit from abundant catches, Filipino, Ghanaian, Indian and Sri Lankan workers are reportedly confined to flat monthly salaries.
Compared against the £12.21-per-hour UK national living wage in place at the time of the report’s interviews, Filipino deckhands hired via the ‘transit loophole’ earned hourly rates ranging from £3.67 for a 72-hour working week to £7.07 for a 37.5-hour working week.
At the same time, wages have been stagnant for at least a decade.
“The ‘transit loophole’ facilitates wage theft by entrenching a flat-rate salary that does not adjust for the rigorous nature of fishing work,” Flex said. “Regardless of number of hours worked, the pay remains fixed at $1,450 for Filipino deckhands, meaning that as their exhaustion and occupational danger increase, the relative value of their labour actually decreases.”
The study was based on 24 interviews with Filipino migrant fishers conducted in October, including Nonoy, who has worked in the UK for 17 years and said it was worse than in the Netherlands where “your salary is equal to the Europeans”.
“The only difference when you work in the UK is when you work for a generous owner because you receive bonuses when you go home,” he continued. “In the Netherlands, while your salary is fixed, at least you’re assured of a big pay.”
Nonoy added: “In the UK, if you end up with a bad boss, you won’t get any bonuses […] I don’t know why the salary in the UK hasn’t increased since 2010.”
The case for a UK fishing visa
Flex found the ‘transit loophole’ left migrant fishers without legal status or labour protections, despite their years of service, and has repeated its calls for a UK fishing visa.
As well as pay discrimination, the report documented widespread exploitation – including excessive hours, unsafe conditions, barriers to healthcare and limited access to justice.
“These experiences must be the primary consideration when designing the specific requirements and conditions of a dedicated UK fishing visa,” it said.
The Fishing Worker Visa envisaged in the report would contain options, including the ability to switch employers and the opportunity to renew the visa, that would ensure fishers are able to access rights in practice and challenge exploitation.
Alongside this, it called for a “bridging visa” like Australia’s Workplace Justice Visa, which “enables migrant fishers with restricted immigration status who have been exploited to take claims against employers without losing their immigration status or permission to work”.
It further recommended the government should carry out a formal review of the use of the ‘transit loophole’, ensure labour market enforcement in UK fishing and on all UK-flagged boats and ensure the Fair Work Agency is accessible to migrant fishers.
The report comes in advance of the abolition of the immigration salary list this December, meaning migrant fishers can only be recruited through the Skilled Worker route, which requires degree-level skills and a high level of English.
Flex said the UK fish industry was “approaching a cliff edge,” and warned it would be ”pushed further into the shadows of the ‘transit loophole’, exacerbating the risks of labour abuse”.
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