Synopsis
Since 1994, Indonesian boat crews have worked on South Korean factory trawlers in New Zealand waters- cheap labour catching New Zealand companies’ fish quota. These Indonesians have suffered brutal human rights abuses – verbal, physical, sexual – on a daily basis. They also are forced to work long hours, often 20-hour days with only 3 hours sleep. In June 2011, 32 Indonesian crew walked off the Oyang 75 in Christchurch. After only five months on board the boat, they would no longer suffer the harsh treatment by their Korean officers.
BAFTA nominee filmmaker Guye Henderson had exclusive access, filming their stories of abuse and extreme working hours (2 days with no sleep was common) and in constant fear for their wives and families being threatened by agents back in Indonesia. Borrowing up to US$2000 to be able to sign on with an Indonesian manning agent to geta job, and then signing onerous two-year contracts, as well as pledging collateral such as family land to guarantee their labour, they faced financial ruin back in Indonesia – all this for a paltry wage of just US$200 a month. This action encouraged other lndonesian crews on Korean factory trawlers to speak out about the coldhearted abuses meted out to them every day, in New Zealand and overseas- the Indian Ocean, Sea of Japan, Bering Sea and South Atlantic Ocean. Guye Henderson’s film exposes the shocking reality that Indonesian crews have no official protection or rights against such inhumane treatment, whether in New Zealand or other fishing waters, and their treatment as modern day slaves is an international human rights disgrace.