Currently alongside in Vigo, trawler Santa Isabel has allowed by its owners to become a floating death trap, according to ITF inspectors who have been on board the 84-metre trawler, which operates under a flag of convenience.
The ITF was alerted to the vessel’s condition even before Santa Isabel docked in Vigo, when some of the crew asked for help through FishSupport, a network of inspectors and union contacts who have the knowledge and experience to assist. Crew had not been paid and feared they would be sent home without pay when Santa Isabel arrived to offload. They requested anonymity because they were scared of reprisals by the ship’s owners.
The crew is from Senegal, Peru, Indonesia, and Spain. The ITF understands that most of the non-EU fishers now simply want to collect the wages they are owed and have the owners meet their responsibilities in arranging their fares home.
Santa Isabel was built in Portugal in 1972, and its current state of repair is so poor that an inspection by the Vigo port authorities resulted in a list of more than 50 severe deficiencies. An assessment by the Spanish Foreign Health Service noted a further 25 deficiencies related to hygiene, health, sanitation and living conditions on board. Investigations by the ITF have revealed that the vessel has also been accused of illegal fishing by a number of environmental groups.
‘The vessel is fundamentally unsafe,’ said Luz Baz, the ITF Coordinator who boarded the ship to verify conditions.
‘Navigational equipment is broken, there are electrical fire risks in the living areas, the fire-fighting system is not working. On top of that, there are no medical certificates on board, and no certificates to show the crew have received proper training [they should all have International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F) certificates. The owners appear to have been putting fishers’ lives at risk to avoid spending any money to meet basic standards of safety or maintenance.’
Despite the blatant deficiencies found by the ITF and Spanish port authorities, the Flag state Belize responded to the ITF, stating that its own inspector had been on board, claiming that internally the vessel is in fair condition.
‘This is so at odds with our own findings, one has to question Belize’s motivations,’ Luz Baz said.
‘Why is a ship operating out of Spain, whose owners appear to have no connection to Belize, even registered there? It’s because the owners know they will be able to behave however they please because Belize is a Flag of Convenience and will assert little or no regulatory control.’
The registered owner of the Santa Isabel is AC Fishing Company, located in the Seychelles, where it is almost impossible to hold a company to account. The operator is Atlantikaromas Unipessoal Lda, and ITF has identified the beneficial owner as Portuguese company Antonio Conde & Companhía, based in Aveiro.
‘The ITF fervently believes that until ship owners are made to be transparent about their dealings, the wellbeing and safety of seafarers will continue to suffer,’ Luz Baz said.
‘Because owners of vessels like the Santa Isabel are allowed an unfair cost advantage by circumventing legal requirements, it encourages other companies to also break the law. We lament shipwrecks and pay homage to their victims, but not enough is done to prevent them. We should not be letting dangerous ships work the ocean with impunity, without control or sanction.’
