The UK seafood sector has launched Europe’s first “worker-driven” scheme to tackle the exploitation of migrant crew on British fishing boats by setting minimum standards for pay and working conditions.

The two-year pilot will be run by labour rights groups in partnership with the Seafood Ethics Action Alliance (SEA Alliance), a consumer group whose members represent 95 per cent of the UK seafood market and include Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Whitby Seafoods…

Chris Williams, fisheries expert at the ITF, said the project gives migrant fishers “a chance for greater protection and improved conditions at work, as well as the ability to shape their own working conditions”.

The attempt to clean up labour standards comes after criticism of the seafood industry’s systemic dependence on low-paid migrant crew and a series of labour abuse scandals that have rocked the sector in recent years.

Experts estimate that more than 1,200 overseas crew on British boats are employed through “transit visas”, which in recent decades have been adopted by some employers seeking to evade UK employment law…

The programme has been launched by Focus on Labour Exploitation (Flex), a non-profit group, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the Fair Food Programme.