US Department of Labor awards $5m grant to combat illegal fishing in Peru and Ecuador
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Illegal fishing allows bad actors to control local resources and threatens the environmental and economic well being of these countries’ coastal communities. Illegal fishing operations yield an estimated 26 million tons of fish per year – valued at approximately $23 billion.
Administered by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the ILO project will address illegal fishing and general labor violations in the fishing sector. Through this project, the organization will work with local governments, including labor inspectorates and port authorities, artisanal fishers’ unions and national worker federations, universities and the private sector.
It will also target vulnerable populations working in the fishing sector women and those in the Afro descendant communities working in fish processing and canning plants. ■