KKP first to use digital guide to safeguard fishing crew rights
The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), together with a joint team, has for the first time used digital tools to oversee the fulfilment of rights and safety of fishing vessel crew (ABK).
“These tools can make it easier for inspectors to conduct examinations and determine the risk scale for each vessel inspected,” said Mijil Ritno Sujiwo, Head of the Fishing Vessel Manning Working Team at the KKP’s Directorate of Fishing Vessels and Fishing Gear, in Denpasar, Bali, on Saturday.
He explained that the digital guide will become the standard used by inspection teams at both national and regional levels, with its first implementation carried out at Benoa Port in Bali.
In addition to the KKP, the team includes the Ministry of Manpower and the Bali Provincial Forum for the Protection of Fisheries Workers and Fishermen, comprising the Fisheries Harbourmaster, the Bali Provincial Manpower and Transmigration Office, the Bali Provincial Marine and Fisheries Office, the Denpasar Centre for Health and Quarantine, the Benoa Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervisor, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, and Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW) Indonesia.
The team used the digital guide to inspect working and living conditions of crew on four vessels preparing to sail from Benoa Port during the period of 26–28 August 2026.
The inspection focused on the fulfilment of workers’ rights, occupational health and safety (K3), adequacy of accommodation, and compliance with fisheries regulations.
In addition, the inspection also mapped the long journey of workers, from the recruitment of fishing vessel crew, accommodation facilities and work safety equipment on board fishing vessels, to the crew wage system.
Although this was not the first such activity, the joint inspection using the digital guide not only enforces fisheries worker protection regulations but also serves as an initial step in implementing international regulations after the Indonesian government ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention C-188.
Meanwhile, DFW Indonesia Programme Director Imam Trihatmadja explained that the digital guide will be handed over to the KKP and the Ministry of Manpower to be further developed and used as a centralised vessel risk monitoring system accessible in real time.
“We hope that with this digital system, inspection teams will no longer conduct random vessel inspections, but instead base them on the risk scale appearing on the system dashboard,” he said.
The joint team targeted Benoa Port in Denpasar, Bali, because of its strategic role as the main landing site for tuna fishing fleets in the Indian Ocean and a key hub for tuna exports, alongside Muara Baru in Jakarta.
At Benoa Port in Denpasar, Bali, the government estimates there are around 2,000 workers involved in activities ranging from vessel operations to processing and distribution of catches, making decent work practices and protection of fisheries workers a crucial element.