"‘A fishing accident blinded me but I was forced to keep working’: abuses faced by workers who catch our fish,"

Labor groups and government officials are pushing to rein in rampant abuses of workers in the fishing industry, where migrant laborers are frequently subjected to slavery and violence from employers.

One out of every five fish is caught through illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in conditions where abuses of workers are common, according to a United Nationsestimate. About 128,000 workers are thought to be currently trapped in forced labor on remote fishing vessels around the world, according to the International Labour Organization.

Child labor or forced labor has been documented in the production of fish, dried fish, shellfish and shrimp in 20 countries, according to the US Department of Labor...

With corporations performing self-audits on labor abuses in their supply chains and large gaps in data on the industry, there is a need for worker-centered solutions and governments to work together, said [deputy secretary for international labor affairs at the US Department of Labor Thea] Lee...

Some solutions being pursued to address the industry’s issues include mandating wifi access for workers, publishing vessel license information, and getting federal governments to pass and enforce regulations on seafood corporations...

“We see the global supply chain model operating in seafood as a fundamental challenge to labor rights for workers because it is set up to separate the entities that are making the highest-level profits and having the most power to change conditions from the entities that are the direct employer of the workers,” added [Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, executive director of Global Labor Justice ]. “US and European brands and investors hide their heads in the sand and try to either ignore the problem or pass the responsibility and the cost and the liability all the way down the chain. We’re committed to interrupting that model.”...

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre published a 2019 report on modern slavery in Pacific tuna supply chains, surveying 35 canned tuna corporations and supermarkets representing 80 of the world’s largest retail canned tuna brands...

In a follow-up report in 2021, the Business & Human Rights Centre noted there was “glacial progress”, and the issues were worsening.

“Companies weren’t themselves clear on exactly where their products were coming from which obviously is problematic if companies are going to take the next step to ensure the workers in their supply chains aren’t suffering from abuse,” said Amy Sinclair, regional representative for Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and author of the reports.

Corporations were also not identifying or disclosing cases of modern slavery in their supply chains, the reports found.

“There’s no silver bullet for addressing this type of issue. I think what’s important is that there’s a multi-pronged action addressed at different actors, so for governments to be initiating regulations and companies encouraged to implement good practices,” added Sinclair. “You can encourage good practices, endlessly, and we’ve had voluntary standards in place for years and years and years now. They’re not causing companies to act as quickly as they should.”