Negotiating Trade-Offs: Identifying Labour Exploitation in the Fishing Sector in Thailand

Abstract

In this paper we report the findings of a study investigating the implementation of Apprise, a mobile phone-based tool used by labour inspectors to assess working conditions and screen vulnerable migrant fishers for indicators of exploitation. The Thai Ministry of Labour and Royal Thai Navy agreed to participate in a pilot study in mid-2019 where they collectively supported the use of Apprise to conduct interviews with fishers at four Port-In Port-Out centres in eastern Thailand. We describe the participatory approach used in designing the Apprise system and summarize key findings from the study's baseline, mid-line, and endline assessments. We then discuss lessons learned around negotiating the trade-offs that arose between various stakeholders with competing interests and the practical challenges faced in the study context. Technology solutions such as Apprise cannot address the systematic shortcomings of victim identification throughout the Thai fishing sector, but our findings support that technology can play a role in overcoming challenges specifically in the areas of communication, privacy, trust and training.