Kate Pike on the Mental Health of Stranded Seafarers
Podcast, 10 February 2021
By Francesca Fairbairn , Oceans, Commodities, and Academy Programme Manager, IHRB
Hundreds of thousands of sea farers have been stranded at sea since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020. One of the Top 10 Business and Human Rights Issues for 2021, the global crew change crisis is now entering its second year.
In this episode of Voices, maritime expert Kate Pike speaks with IHRB's Francesca Fairbairn about urgent efforts to address mental health of seafarers still trapped at sea. Over 500 organisations have now signed the Neptune Declaration, calling for key worker status and priority vaccination for seafarers, collaboration between ship operators and charterers to facilitate crew changes, and air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers, but it remains to be seen whether this will finally bring this crisis to an end.
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Dr Kate Pike is Associate Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Director of Field Research, a company specialising extensively on the social science and human elements of the maritime industry. Kate is an experienced maritime researcher with applied expertise and project experience in seafarer’s welfare, gender equality and diversity, management and leadership and on-board safety cultures. Kate is currently leading the research element of the Social Interaction Matters Project, an ISWAN initiative and sponsored by the MCA and the Red Ensign Group.