This article describes a collaborative project between the International Labour Organization's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, in identifying work hazards of fishers along the east coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia, in July 2004. The study employed qualitative investigation techniques: participant observations at fishing villages and harbors; and interviews with local fishers and skippers. Fishers work long hours in life-threatening conditions, often with low pay. It would be synergistic to incorporate fishing safety and health policies and advocacy efforts into reconstruction undertakings of fisheries devastated by the 2004 tsunami.
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