“When you are talking about illegal fishing,” he said, “you are also talking about human smuggling.”
The question now is if the men will be rescued. Many governments lack the resources — or the will — to implement a patchwork of outdated maritime rules, some written more than a century ago. Kenneth Kennedy, a senior policy adviser for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said international fishing agreements on sustainability, pollution and labor are needed, and those that do exist often go unenforced.
“If all these corporations, or ships, are ignoring these things put in place for the future of humanity, then what are we doing?” he asked. “We’re just spinning our wheels.”
AP tracks slave boats to Papua New Guinea By Robin McDowell, Martha Mendoza and Margie Mason July 27, 2015
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