Labour scarcity leaves migrant fishers adrift
For greater than 20 years, the UK fishing trade has relied on migrant labour to handle continual workforce shortages. Because the variety of home fishers declined, vessel homeowners started recruiting staff from abroad, notably from international locations reminiscent of Ghana and the Philippines, the place maritime expertise and expertise are frequent. These staff have change into important to the continued operation of the UK fishing trade.
Regardless of their significance to the workforce, many employers have relied on the ‘code 7 (contract seaman) stamp’ when recruiting migrant labour. This obscure authorized loophole treats fishers as if they’re merely passing by the UK, regardless of routinely engaged on UK-flagged vessels, in UK territorial waters and on UK soil. This authorized fiction leaves many migrant fishers at excessive danger of labour exploitation, will increase their vulnerability to immigration-related penalties and creates important obstacles to the enforcement of labour rights within the UK.
In Give attention to Labour Exploitation’s latest report, Voices from the Deck, we draw on interviews with two dozen Filipino fishers employed by this association, highlighting lots of the points they face, and advocating for the creation of a devoted fishing visa. The fishing visa would supply a lawful route for recruitment whereas making certain that fishers have entry to the rights and protections afforded to different staff within the UK.
What’s the transit loophole?
The transit loophole is rooted in part 8(1) of the Immigration Act 1971, which exempts seafaring crew who will imminently depart the UK from the requirement to acquire depart to enter.
The Dwelling Workplace calls this provision ‘contract seaman depart’, which it administratively information with ‘code 7’ situations, whereas the trade typically refers to it as a transit visa. This multiplicity of phrases displays the authorized ambiguity of the availability, which was by no means supposed to perform as a piece route, however as a short lived entry permission.
Due to this fact, underneath Dwelling Workplace coverage steerage, contract seaman depart could solely be granted the place a person intends to depart the UK on a vessel inside an inexpensive interval, usually seven days. Nonetheless, for a few years the steerage permitted fishers to work on vessels working ‘wholly or largely’ outdoors the UK’s 12-nautical-mile restrict. This ambiguity created a authorized loophole upon which the trade got here to rely.
On the coronary heart of the loophole is the authorized fiction that migrant fishers are merely in transit by the UK, regardless of being employed on UK-flagged vessels. The situation that fishers can solely work outdoors UK territorial waters can also be deceptive, since fishers are routinely anticipated to unload catches, load provides, keep tools and put together gear in UK ports, in addition to typically being compelled to fish inside UK waters by skippers.
Why does it matter?
Whereas the federal government doesn’t seem to take care of information on using the transit loophole within the fishing trade, estimates counsel that it’s utilized by the overwhelming majority of migrant fishers on UK-flagged vessels.
Since these fishers possess no formal immigration standing, they’re completely unrecognised as UK staff and thus face obstacles accessing UK labour protections, reminiscent of these supplied by the Nationwide Minimal Wage Act 1998 and the Employment Rights Act 1996. They’re additionally susceptible to removing from the UK if they’re discovered to be working inside UK territorial waters or at ports. This mix of unrecognised labour, authorized exclusion, and the fixed risk of removing places many fishers at excessive danger of labour exploitation.
Although our analysis with fishers, we’ve got documented widespread stories of labour exploitation linked to the transit loophole. This contains
- staff being paid as little as £3.67 per hour;
- dealing with a excessive diploma of dependency on employers;
- working underneath insecure contracts with extreme hours and no enough breaks;
- working in situations that carry a excessive danger of damage whereas encountering important obstacles to healthcare and compensation;
- being excluded from labour enforcement mechanisms; and
- dwelling with authorized uncertainty round their rights and standing, together with the danger of criminalisation or removing as a consequence of their skippers’ operational infractions.
The analysis additionally reveals how this method produces discriminatory labour outcomes, with pay and situations predominantly decided by immigration standing relatively than function or talent. This leaves staff within the transit loophole considerably worse off than their British colleagues — discrepancies which might be typically mirrored and embedded in racialised hierarchies.
The present coverage hole
In 2023, the federal government sought to curtail the misuse of the transit loophole. Part 43 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 clarified that international nationals working in UK territorial waters, for any time frame, require an immigration standing that grants permission to work.
The Dwelling Workplace subsequently supplied new steerage, eradicating the ‘wholly or largely’ wording, and limiting contract seaman depart to fishers on vessels ‘not aspiring to function in UK waters’.
Provided that crews on nearly all UK-flagged vessels spend at the very least a part of their time working in UK territorial waters and ports, these modifications meant that, in precept, migrant fishers would have to be recruited by the UK’s points-based immigration system. The expert employee route would presumably present the suitable current pathway.
Nevertheless, many fishing roles don’t meet the wage thresholds required by the expert employee route. Though some occupations have been later included on the immigration wage listing, permitting sponsorship at wage ranges 20% beneath the usual threshold, restrictive eligibility necessities and administrative obstacles continued to restrict entry. These already restricted pathways are set to slim additional in December 2026 as the federal government plans to abolish the immigration wage listing. A brand new Short-term Scarcity Record will likely be launched, however restricted to occupations deemed important to the UK’s Industrial Technique and nationwide infrastructure — classes that don’t presently embody fishing roles.
In consequence, the sector stays — and is more likely to change into much more — depending on the transit loophole to maintain afloat, regardless of these reforms. This problem, and the shortage of regulation of using the loophole was highlighted throughout parliamentary scrutiny of the Border Safety, Asylum and Immigration Invoice. Lord Watson tabled an modification calling for the Dwelling Secretary to fee a assessment of the transit loophole, together with the dimensions of its use inside the fishing trade, the implications for staff’ entry to rights and protections, and to make suggestions for a way the recruitment wants of the fishing trade might be supported whereas making certain staff can entry their rights.
The federal government rejected the modification, arguing that it might ‘be inappropriate to provide work rights to these on momentary visas intending to permit transit solely.’
This response failed to interact with the modification ask, which was to assessment the present use of the code 7 (contract seaman) stamp and make suggestions to make sure the trade can make use of migrant staff who’ve entry to their employment rights and are recognised as staff, relatively than to vary the aim of code 7.
Such a assessment would have uncovered the truth that many fishers utilizing code 7 usually are not in transit, however are as a substitute routinely working in UK ports and territorial waters, or are engaged on UK-flagged vessels outdoors UK waters with out enough authorized protections. In consequence, the labour safety vulnerabilities related to the misuse of the loophole stay completely unresolved.
The case for a devoted fishing visa
Drawing on the findings of our most up-to-date stories, we argue that the introduction of a devoted fishing visa, which recognises migrant fishers as staff and has choices which guarantee they’ll train rights in follow, would supply a coherent and sustainable framework for regulating migrant labour within the UK fishing trade. Such a visa would lengthen entry to labour rights and protections whereas offering employers with a viable path to recruit the workforce they require.
Mixed with a sector-wide sponsorship mannequin that reduces dependency on particular person employers, a fishing work visa may play a big function in decreasing exploitation, bettering working situations, and supporting the long-term sustainability of the sector.
Somewhat than counting on authorized loopholes and momentary fixes, the federal government ought to set up an immigration framework that displays the realities of recent business fishing within the UK and recognises fishers not as a disposable workforce, however as staff entitled to the identical rights and protections as their British crewmates.
This text was co-authored with Angeli Romero and Kate Robertson from FLEX.
