Are bad subsidies linked to slavery in fisheries?

The Sea Around Us research assistant, Jessika Woroniak, joined forces with classmate Claudia Kobetitch and created a poster that highlights the links between subsidies that enhance the fishing capacity of industrial vessels and modern slavery at sea.

The poster was presented during an internal competition at the Microeconomics class at UBC’s Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs. In a graphic manner, the piece shows how overfishing leads to dwindling fish stocks which, in turn, produce less catch and profits, a situation that prompts many operators to cut costs. The latter, can only typically be done by reducing worker pay and conditions.

Previous work by the Sea Around Us has also explored the connections between overfishing and labour and human rights abuses.

Click on the image to see the PDF of the poster.

subsidies slavery poster