Sea fisheries - Sectoral social dialogue

Social partners

Social dialogue in this sector covers (activities defined by NACE (Rev.2) code 3.11):

The EU is the world’s second-largest fishing power after China. It produces almost 7 million tonnes of fish, about 5 % of the world total.

Around 350 000 people work in fisheries, processing and aquaculture in the EU.

Industry challenges include:

finding the right balance between fishing jobs and fish stocks, while promoting diversification and new forms of income within the sector
increased competition from non-EU fishing fleets with lower social and environmental standards and the globalisation of the market in fish
health and safety
lack of harmonised standards on training and certification of fishermen
ensuring decent living and working conditions on board fishing vessels.

The social partners aim to:

The sectoral social dialogue committee for fisheries focuses on:

following up the reform of the EU common fisheries policy
lobbying for the transposition of the International Labour Organisation Convention on work in fishing
following up measures under the integrated maritime policy
monitoring the ratification of the International Maritime Organisation International Convention on Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F),
health and safety issues
monitoring that the social clause is included in fisheries agreements and enforced in sustainable fisheries partnership agreements
promoting decent work in fisheries
making attractiveness of the sector attractive, in particular towards young workers.

Check the library entries for the sectoral social dialogue committee.