"Thailand to scan eyes of workers in notorious seafood industry", 16 February 2018

Thailand is using optical scanning technology to keep track of who is working on its fishing boats…as the kingdom tries to curb slave labour and human trafficking that has riddled the low-paid industry.

The lucrative fishing business is the fourth largest in the world and is heavily dependent on migrant labour from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, but documented abuses and forced labour have put the trade under pressure to clean up its act or face consequences.

…Labour Minister Adul Sangsingkeo said tens of thousands of workers had been scanned but the roll out was still in the early stages.

The program, which captures data from the iris…is part of an overarching plan to register workers. The government is also adopting measures for facial and fingerprint scanning.

…The purpose of the stepped up tech was to make sure workers were on the boat they were registered with and not farmed out to another vessel.