75 crewmen in dire straits in Table Bay
INLSA
Unable to return home, crewmen of one of the seven vessels impounded by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries spend their days in bad conditions below deck. Photo: CANDICE CHAPMAN
Cape Town - A Brooklyn woman has slammed the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for not feeding 75 stranded crewmen and has taken up their plight after being horrified to find them starving and living in dire conditions aboard detained vessels in Table Bay Harbour.
Last month Mariam Augustus, 50, started cooking for the men when her husband told her of their need for food.
"It's so sad… they told my husband they don't have food and for the first few days I had to feed them myself. They don't even have water now and their electricity was cut and nobody's touching them. This is human slavery and the department is just entertaining it."
After three days she asked feeding scheme Nakhlistan to assist. The organisation is providing the crew with free food, water, cleaning agents and other supplies.
Augustus's husband Cassiem, 58, a shipping agent for the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), said the fishermen had been marooned in Table Bay harbour for about three months already.
"They get paid about $170 a month, which is less than R2 000 and isn't money to write home about. Most haven't been paid for months and some for years," said Augustus.
The department had impounded the vessels for illegal fishing, registry and had confiscated their cargo.
The ITF then approached maritime attorney Alan Goldberg to arrest the vessels, whereby the court takes physical control of the ships.
"We are forcing the owners to pay and if they don't their vessels will be sold and the crew will be paid from the sale," said Goldberg.
While the courts have already taken charge of three vessels, negotiations for control of the remaining four are set for tomorrow. Due to the sensitive nature of the case, Goldberg said the media were not allowed to name or show the crewmen's faces.
Crouched in a corner of a small bunker shared by 11 fishermen below one of the vessels, a 23-year-old fisherman from Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, said he had taken the job because he wanted to "explore the world". But he soon realised that a seaman's life aboard the vessels included beatings and not being fed if they didn't meet the expected catch.
He also told the Weekend Argus they had repainted the name of the vessel at least three times.
He said they often joked to keep their spirits high.
"We're like brothers now," he added.
Some of the men were asleep while others listened to music from a radio which drew power from a generator. Plastic covers and curtain sheets hung in front of the men's cramped sleeping quarters divided by rusting poles.
Only folded blankets provided some cushioning for them to sleep on.
Sea water is used for cooking and washing. Above a miniature kitchen was a piece of foam from which the men's various coloured toothbrushes protruded, while inside, the walls appeared to have been licked by the flames of the corner burner used for cooking and the floor and surfaces were thick with grime.
Department spokes-woman Carol Moses said they were taking action against the vessels' owners, who were found to be in "serious" violation of the Marine Living Resources Act as well as contravening international management and conservation measures.
She confirmed the seizure of the shipping boats, also listed by the Indonesian consulate as "illegal unregulated and unreported vessels".
Moses said they had learnt of the "serious human rights violations on board the seven vessels which took place on the high seas" and said the department intended to "bring full justice through the judicial system".
janis.kinnear@inl.co.za
Weekend Argus
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