1. Challenges with multi-national
crews in the fishing fleet
NSHC 2012
Trine Thorvaldsen
PhD research fellow
SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture
SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture

2. Topics for this presentation
• Background
• Aim
• Method
• Extent and recruitment
• Formal rules and regulations
• Training and qualification requirements
• Language, communication and safety
• Working environment
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3. Background
• Foreign labour is important for the
Norwegian society
• The number of foreign workers is
reported to be increasing in the fishing
fleet
• Does it affect safety, communication
and working environment? If so, how?
"Many foreign workers want to work in fisheries"
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4. Aim of the project "Safe communication"
• Map the extent of foreign workers in the Norwegian fishing fleet
• Study potential consequences for communication, safety and
working enviroment in multi-national (multi-lingual) crews
The project is funded through The Norwegian Seafood Research fund and is conducted by
SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture and The Norwegian College of Fisheries Science.
(http://www.fiskerifond.no/index.php?current_page=prosjekter&subpage=&detail=1&id=12
70&gid=1)
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5. Method
• Interviews with actors in the
fishing industry:
Fishermen, skippers,
shipowners, regulatory
authorities, interest
groups
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6. Extent and recruitment
• Mainly through networks. This resembles traditional
recruitment strategies
• People contact shipowners directly
• The seagoing fleet employ the highest share of foreign
workers
• Hard to give exact number of foreign workers, no demand
for registration
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7. Rules and regulations
• Municipality of residence
§ 3 Lov om forbud mot at utlendinger driver fiske m.v. i Norges territorialfarvann [fiskeriforbudsloven].
Skipper and 50% of crew must live in Norway
• Language Requirements
§11
(1) Seafarers should be able to communicate with each other on the ship's working language decided by the
company about basic security issues and understand safety information, text, symbols and alarms.
From Regulations concerning the qualifications and certificates of seafarers
New regulations from January 2012
http://www.sjofartsdir.no/regelverk/rundskriv/kvalifikasjoner-og-sertifikater-for-sjofolk/
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8. Training and qualification
requirements
• Mandatory safety
training
• Language skills
• On-the-job training
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9. Language, communication and safety
• Findings from other industries
• Not perceived as a problem in daily operations
• Hybrid Language
• Organization of work
• Daily operations versus critical situations
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10. Working environment
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11. Thank you for your attention (again)!
e-mail: Trine.M.Thorvaldsen@sintef.no
Phone: +4792422971
http://www.sintef.no/fisk
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