"How Indian fishers suffer exploitation and abuse on UK boats", 3 April 2024

Mariyappan, who belongs to a fishing community in Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu, immediately accepted the offer, from the Star Fishing Company.

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The next morning, the United Kingdom Border Force arrived at the vessel and confiscated all the Indian fishermen’s documents, including passports and discharge books, which are documents that record seafarers’ work experience and qualifications. They then arrested all three for allegedly breaking a law that bars transit-visa holders from entering the country except when they are passing through it. They were also accused of violating a rule that bars fishers with transit visas from working within 22 km of the British coast.

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Star Fishing Company did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

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British recruitment agencies started hiring Indian crew for the United Kingdom’s fishing industry only around five years ago – they found these workers with the help of agents in India.

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Under the transit-visa system, fishing companies hire seafarers or deckhands from outside the country, and outside the European Union, for as little as a third of the price of British crewmen.

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Once on board, seafarers are no longer governed by the United Kingdom’s employment laws and immigration controls, a legal loophole used by fishing companies, boat owners, and skippers to exploit and abuse migrant workers, according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation.