HONOLULU – A boat that ran aground off Honolulu while transporting foreign fishermen to work in Hawaii’s commercial fishing industry has raised new questions about the safety and working conditions for foreign laborers in this unique U.S. fleet.
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A long, cramped journey to the United States for a group of fishermen from Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Kiribati ended with a rescue last week after their fishing vessel smashed into a reef.
The Coast Guard says the boat ran aground just before midnight Oct. 10 and didn’t call for help. The 79-foot boat carried 19 foreign men and a captain, the only U.S. citizen aboard.
A 2016 Associated Press investigation revealed the Hawaii fleet exploits a loophole in federal law to employ men from impoverished Southeast Asian and Pacific nations for a fraction of the pay an American worker would get.
