Jermal

The approximately 1,000 m² fishing platforms are named ever since , of which around 1,700 are located in the Strait of Malacca off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra . They stand as pile dwellings at the end of a huge trap made of piles, which, together with the ocean current, guides fish under the Jamals. Many are illegally established.

Like almost all of the fishing industry , the vast majority of the Jermals belong to the ethnic Chinese population of Indonesia.

Although child labor is also prohibited in Indonesia , the majority of workers on the platforms are children and young people who are kept there in slave- like conditions. They usually cannot leave the platform for months and are only brought ashore after their "employment contract" has expired and their successors have been trained.

Web links and sources

• Sumatra: Children fishing report on a visit to a Jermal ( Greenpeace )
• Image of a Jermal , accessed August 6, 2011.