Wednesday–Friday, 10–12 December 2025
Indonesia’s fisheries industry, particularly tuna commodities, plays a strategic role in the national economy and global trade. Over the past four years, fisheries product exports have shown a stable upward trend from USD 4.56 billion (2021) to USD 4.81 billion (January-October 2024), averaging about 1.8% per year, driven by the global market demand and Indonesia’s position as a major global tuna producer. Benoa, Bali, is the second-largest hub for landing, processing, distribution, and export of capture fisheries after Muara Baru, Jakarta. These activities contribute to state revenue, regional economic growth, and large-scale labour absorption in capture and processing sectors.
As a fisheries industry hub, Benoa attracts workers from various regions in Indonesia, such as East Java, Central Java, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and North Sulawesi. This illustrates the industry’s significant reliance on domestic migrant labour. Amid growing global attention to social and labour aspects in fisheries sustainability, the industry must meet ecological standards, ensure product quality, and protect workers’ rights, safety, and welfare across the supply chain.
However, frozen tuna workers continue to face challenges, including limited standardised training, uneven application of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) principles, and insufficient awareness of labour rights and protection mechanisms. Although certification regulations exist, their implementation remains limited and non-mandatory, resulting in gaps between worker competency and product quality. In response, Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia (DFW-I), in collaboration with the Centre for Marine and Fisheries Training of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries—particularly the Banyuwangi Fisheries Training and Extension Centre—launched the “Training to Enhance the Capacity of Frozen Tuna Workers” to strengthen worker protection through capacity building and curriculum piloting.
The training convened 29 workers from 13 tuna processing companies in Benoa, Bali, including former tuna processing workers. The participant group included 18 men and 11 women, underscoring the active and essential role of women in production and frozen operations within the tuna processing industry. Participants represented a wide range of educational backgrounds, from junior high school to bachelor’s degrees, with most holding high school or vocational qualifications that reflect the sector’s workforce profile. Workers from medium to large companies contributed diverse professional experiences, production practices, and workplace conditions. Throughout the sessions, participants actively exchanged perspectives on workplace standards, discussed challenges in implementing sanitation and hygiene procedures, shared experiences with personal protective equipment (PPE), and explored ways to manage workloads in extreme temperatures. These exchanges enriched the learning process, ensuring that the training remained practical, interactive, and closely connected to participants’ everyday work realities.
The training strengthened participants’ technical skills related to frozen tuna processing. Participants gained a clearer understanding of production stages, from receiving and handling raw material to sanitation and hygiene practices, SOP-compliant freezing, and packaging that meets food safety and export standards. Practical sessions and simulations highlighted the importance of quality control and food safety, including temperature monitoring and recording at each production stage, despite equipment limitations. Participants also recognised the relevance of these practices to their daily work in fish processing units
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) was a primary focus of the training. Participants strengthened their understanding of OSH principles in frozen tuna work environments, including the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), emergency response procedures, and the ability to recognise and manage potential hazards in the workplace. Through discussions and case studies, participants identified key occupational risks, including exposure to extreme temperatures, hazardous production equipment, high physical workloads, and vulnerability to dangerous chemicals, such as carbon monoxide (CO) gas. These sessions increased participants’ awareness of the importance of preventing workplace accidents and occupational illnesses while reinforcing the understanding that workplace safety is a shared responsibility between workers and companies.
The training also played a key role in strengthening participants’ understanding of workers’ rights and labour protection mechanisms. Through an introduction to the National Fishers Center Indonesia (NFC-I), participants gained a clearer understanding of basic labour rights, indicators of forced labour and other labour violations, as well as available complaint, referral, and support services for fisheries workers. This topic resonated strongly with participants, many of whom work under short-term contracts that place them at greater risk of rights violations. Participants showed strong engagement, particularly during discussions on safe and confidential complaint mechanisms, and actively explored the different ways NFC-I services can be accessed, including by phone, online, or through in-person visits. Beyond building knowledge, the session encouraged a shared sense of awareness and mutual support, reinforcing the importance of looking out for one another and speaking up about labour-related concerns. In this way, the training helped foster stronger connections and solidarity among tuna processing workers in Benoa, alongside improving individual understanding and confidence.
From an institutional perspective, the training expanded NFC-I’s reach to tuna processing workers in Benoa, a group that had previously received limited support from worker protection initiatives. The activity also served as an entry point to strengthen connections between fish processing workers and institutions that provide information, education, and complaint-handling services, to improve workers’ access to labour rights protection mechanisms in the future.
Furthermore, the training strengthened collaboration among fisheries stakeholders. It involved and reinforced partnerships between DFW-I, the Centre for Marine and Fisheries Training, Banyuwangi Fisheries Training and Extension Centre, Bali Provincial Fisheries Office, Benoa tuna processing companies, business associations like the Indonesia Tuna Longline Association (ATLI) and Indonesia Pole & Line and Handline Fisheries Association (AP2HI), and the Indonesian Seafarers and Fisheries Workers Union (KP3I). This collaboration forms a vital foundation for sustainably enhancing human resources in the fisheries sector.
Overall, the event’s outcomes demonstrate that the training served not only as a means of knowledge and skill transfer but also as a space for reflection and dialogue on working conditions, safety, and worker rights protections in the frozen tuna industry. With diverse participant composition and stakeholder involvement, it provides valuable lessons for developing future training models and competency certification for frozen tuna workers, while supporting efforts toward a sustainable, inclusive, and socially just fisheries sector.
