World Fisheries Day

Taiwan fish

World Fisheries Day is celebrated every year on 21 November throughout the world by fishing communities to highlight the precarious situation in which many of them live.

Fisheries are a source of livelihood for millions of people around the world, according to United Nations, 15 million are employed aboard fishing vessels.

The vast majority of fishers engaged in small-scale fishing are found along the coasts of undeveloped countries living in great poverty, using antiquated methods of fishing and in unsafe conditions.

Fishers employed on boats working far out at sea are forced to live on board of their vessels for extended periods of time, working long hours in all kind of weather conditions, sometimes without any protection, and receive very little salary.

These facts make fishing one of the most dangerous and hazardous occupations in the world.

The Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), with its network of centres around the world, has been for long time a “safe harbor” for many fishers. Chaplains and volunteers provide assistance to respond to their spiritual and material needs.

In this Fisheries Day we would like to unite our voice to the voices of fishers, to invite International Organizations and Governments to develop standards which will ensure decent and productive work for fishers employment, income and food security and to have the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188) ratified to guarantee a safe working environment and welfare provisions. – A message from the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Workers, the Vatican department that overseas AoS.

For more information on the Apostleship of the Sea go to: http://apostleshipofthesea.org.uk/cms/