ONLINE CURRENTS VOL3 - Flipbook - Page 13
Cook points to the fact that whilst an accidental trip and fall is conceivable, it is unlikely Davis,
with his extensive sea experience, would suffer such an accident, on such a calm day at sea.
Fishing Observers: The Loneliest Job on Earth
The procedural presence of observers on fishing vessels pinpoints a critical crossroad in
ocean monitoring, which began in 1972 through the setup of the National Observer Program. 12
Seen as the ‘guardians of the ocean’ by humanitarian and environmental organizations, the
responsibility of observers juxtaposes against the interest of fishing corporations. While also
often taking place in some of the most remote areas on earth, the inherent conflict between
the observer and the crew presents a highly lonely and unsupported context, hallmarking
observation as one of the most dangerous occupations in the world.
“I think they look at me as a toad on the ship,” said an Inter-American Tropical Tuna
Commission (IATTC) fishery observer 13 , choosing to remain anonymous so as not to
jeopardize his position.
Among the crew, perhaps unsurprisingly, observers can be seen as representing the aurora
of a policing authority that is there to scrutinize operations - a perception that heightens
anxiety amongst the ship officers. Officers are already under severe scrutiny from company
owners to perform against targets, where the consequence of a poor reviewal is
unfathomable, placing full responsibility on the captain 14. Not in the least because of drastic
reputational and financial implications for the company, but losing a lucrative fishing license
too. This dynamic predicates an inherent tension between the interests of the observer and
the crew; bringing into direct opposition integral data collection undertaken by observers,
and external corporate performance pressures.
There are innumerable examples of this spilling over into actual conflict on a ship, with
testimony registered across a variety of sources and outlets. One particularly stark written
testimony was by Simeone S. B Cagilaba, a US Multilateral Treaty Observer, who expressed
that on one particular occasion “the Captain asked me to falsify my data to look like they
didn’t catch anything, so that it would match his records, but I refused. (...) Later on, he again
asked me this time more sternly to adjust my records. When I again refused, he became
angry.”
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