Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing as Pathways to Human Trafficking: Navigating the Trafficked State of Migrant Filipino Fishermen in J.W. Henley’s Migrante

This study focuses on how J.W. Henley’s Migrante (2020) illustrates the synchroneity of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing to the human trafficking dynamics at sea, in which the maturation and onset of its male protagonist’s psychological and physiological damages confirm his trafficked state. This paper offers further scrutiny on the gendered footing of human trafficking and opens a reframing of its discourse. Migrante tells the painful story of Rizal, who finds employment in a fishing vessel on the shores of Su’ao, Taiwan; as his crew go about their routine at sea which is interspersed with illegal trades in the fishing industry, Rizal is plunged deeper into the harrowing space of his sea-based labor. In the second decade of the 21st century, reports and testimonies from Southeast Asian migrant fishermen working in Taiwanese ships have emerged, exposing the pressure placed upon these fishers to engage in IUU fishing and meet the demands for fish stock. This paper investigates how IUU fishing continues to expand as an alarming transport infrastructure wherein its two key players - (1) the increasing global demand for seafood and (2) the presence of a cheap labor market in the Global South - have conspired to facilitate the exploitation of vulnerable migrant fishermen from developing countries. Through an examination of the challenges faced by Rizal within the context of global capitalist systems under the fishing industry, the discussion spotlights IUU fishing as a transport infrastructure that charters and circulates vulnerable migrant fishermen within its network of corruption.