Slave ship protest

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Originally uploaded by superscoop.

Seafarers and their supporters in the community held a protest outside the Port Road offices of Destiny Abalone in Adelaide recently. They were voicing their anger that the company still has a virtual prison ship anchored 12 kilometres ship off the coast near Tumby Bay, using Ukrainian and Chinese crew in conditions and at rates of pay way below those of the sacked Australian crew they replaced.

A number of the sacked workers were present at the gathering. For the time being, it appears the company has successfully exploited a gap in federal and state legislation to keep the workers on board the floating abalone farm on 12-month contracts.

The incredible saga began late last year when Hong Kong-based Destiny Shipping took over the ship in question from another Hong Kong firm, SAOE. An extensive refit of the ship was carried out. Destiny Abalone Group took over management of the ship and sacked all but four of the 20-plus Australian crew from the Destiny Queen and hired Ukrainian and Chinese seafarers instead. The company applied for and got approval from the Primary Industries and Resources authorities in South Australia to carry on its operation; a spokesman for the department later saying the welfare of the crew "was none of our business". Read more