New research exposes the deadly exploitation of migrant fishers in poorly regulated waters.
Isolated on a Taiwanese fishing vessel, eight days from the nearest landmass, 22-year-old Indonesian fisherman Sugiama was found dead in his bunk in 2019.
His death followed an 18-hour shift and an assault the night before, when he was hit across the head for not working fast enough.
For University of Auckland modern slavery expert Associate Professor Christina Stringer and Dr Sallie Yea of Charles Sturt University (NSW), Sugiama's death is not only a tragedy, but part of a disturbing pattern affecting migrant fishers working in distant waters.
The researchers examined the cases of 55 Indonesian migrant fishers who died or went missing on East Asian distant water fishing vessels between 2015 and 2022.
Through the lens of necropolitics; the politics of death and the power dynamics surrounding the control and regulation of life and death, they argue these vessels can function as zones where marginalised workers can face violence, neglect and precarious conditions.
Of the 55 Indonesian men who died or went missing at sea, 15 causes of death went unreported. The researchers found 12 deaths were the result of unsafe working conditions, ten due to delayed medical care, nine a result of denied medical care, five related to preventable dehydration and malnutrition, two the result of torture or violence, and two were ruled suicides.
Only four investigations into the deaths of any of the deceased fishers were recorded.
"We document how isolation at sea enables the systematic disposability of migrant workers, with deaths occurring through direct violence, accidents and suicides and prolonged neglect leading to malnutrition and preventable illness," says Stringer.
The study points to critical gaps in governance, including failures in mandatory death reporting and investigation, as well as jurisdictional complexities that can allow companies and captains to evade accountability.
The researchers say that when vessels operate outside regulatory oversight, when profit maximisation supersedes the rights of fishers, and when precarious employment strips workers of basic protections, death can become a structural outcome.
They also point to intense pressure on board many vessels. Workers can spend months to more than a year at sea, working long and exhausting hours to meet catch quotas in harsh, remote and weakly regulated environments.
"Meaningful change requires directly challenging the power structures that allow captains to make life-and-death decisions with impunity," the researchers write in their paper Death and disposability of Indonesian migrant fishers at sea.
The death of a relative is a profound tragedy for families, with emotional and financial ramifications that can extend for years, and Yea and Stringer's next research project will explore the support, or lack of, for family members who are left behind when their loved one dies at sea.
"We are currently investigating the long-term impacts on families, including economic hardship and legal battles for compensation," says Yea.
"Understanding these relationships has important implications for accountability and culpability in the sector."
