Certificates for sale

A set of four basic STCW certificates and a seaman`s book for can be bought for $75 on the streets of a major seafarer supplying country. A researcher for Cardiff University`s Seafarers International Research Centre actually purchased the items. What is even more shocking says the centre`s director, Professor Tony Lane, is that they were genuine certificates purchased from the country`s Maritime Administration. The evidence comes from seafarers and the Centre`s own researchers visiting countries in south and south east Asia, southern and eastern Europe and Latin America.