This archive report was first published on 11 July 2019.
Published on July 11, 2019, a group of 15 Kenyan fishermen are stuck on a vessel owned by a Somali fishing company, working under deplorable conditions and without pay.
According to Betty Makena, an officer with the East Africa International Transport Workers' Federation, the fishermen were hired by an unlicensed agent in Mombasa in April and are now working on the FV Marwan 1 in Somali waters.
Ms Makena stated that the fishermen are living and sleeping in the open, with many of them injured and in need of medical care. They claim their employer is forcing them to work long hours and threatening them with a gun if they resist.
The fishermen were hired for Ksh26,000 ($260) per month, which is below the average salary of Ksh90,000 ($900) per month as per the International Maritime Organisation's labour convention.
The seafarers' lobby has contacted the Kenyan government to rescue the group, which is expected to head to the Djibouti fish landing site.
The recruiting agent, Seaport Operations Limited, has refused to meet with the lobby, and an investigation revealed that the company does not have a physical office.
Seaport Operations Limited is not listed among the five agencies licensed to recruit and place maritime workers on behalf of the Kenya Maritime Authority.
