EVIDENCE | Forced labor, child labor, and/or human trafficking in seafood
| Source | Details |
|---|---|
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U.S. Department of Labor 2024 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor |
Evidence of child and forced labor in fish goods. |
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U.S. Department of Labor 2024 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor |
Categorial worst forms of child labor: evidence of forced child labor found in the fishing industry. Evidence of child labor found in the fishing sector, including on fishing vessels, in processing facilities, and on offshore platforms. |
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U.S. Department of State 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report |
Within Indonesia, traffickers exploit adults and children in fishing and fish processing. The fishing industry remains among the most highly exploitative industries in Indonesia; traffickers exploit Indonesian victims within Indonesia’s domestic fishing fleet and overseas, particularly in Papua New Guinea, and in the distant water fishing fleets of China, ROK, and Taiwan. Some traffickers target Indonesian fishermen from Java, including impoverished farm workers, fraudulently recruit them with promises of high salaries and good working conditions, provide illicit travel documents, and make them sign contracts so hard to break that experts call them “slavery contracts.” In Indonesian waters and elsewhere, some senior vessel crewmembers force fishermen to engage in illegal practices, making them vulnerable to penalization. Some senior vessel crewmembers on PRC, ROK, Vanuatua, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, United Kingdom, and Philippines-flagged and/or owned fishing vessels operating in Indonesian, Thai, Sri Lankan, Mauritian, Namibian, and Indian waters subject Indonesian fishermen to forced labor. Most Indonesian fishermen work aboard vessels in Taiwan and ROK’s secluded distant water fleets, impeding their ability to report abuse and exploitation. Recruitment agencies in Burma, Indonesia, and Thailand similarly lure fishermen with promises of high wages but then charge fees, curtail deposits, assign them fake identity documents and labor permits, and force them to fish for long hours on vessels that operate under complex multinational flagging and ownership arrangements and sometimes do not return to shore for months or years at a time, which permits abusive senior crewmembers to exploit workers with impunity. Fishermen on these vessels have reported low or unpaid salaries; coercive tactics such as contract discrepancies, document retention, restricted communication and movement, poor living and working conditions; physical violence; and severe physical and sexual abuse. In a survey of 35 fishermen on Indonesian-flagged vessels, 71 percent reported they did not have possession of their identity documents, and more than 88 percent reported substantial salary deductions and irregular wages – indicators of forced labor. Indonesian fishermen have reported persistent physical violence, 20-hour shifts, and lack of food on PRC-flagged fishing vessels – indicators of forced labor – and authorities have removed hundreds of exploited Indonesians from such vessels and recorded the deaths of 12 others between from 2019- 2020. Some PRC-, ROK-, and Taiwan-flagged vessels keep Indonesian workers after completion of their contracts until the company secures replacement workers. |
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Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Seafood Social Risk Tool Profile |
Evidence identified at the seafood-industry level in the Indonesia country risk profile for tuna fisheries, and indicators of forced labor in Indonesia's tuna fishing industry. Indonesia's Warmwater Shrimp farming profile found no evidence linking Indonesia's shrimp aquaculture industry directly to human trafficking, forced labor or hazardous child labor, but there are reports of forced labor in shrimp aquaculture and evidence of potentially hazardous child labor for children aged 10-15 years in shrimp feeding activites. |
| Additional civil society organization reports documenting human rights abuses: |
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| Risk Factor | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Flag of Convenience (International Transport Workers Federation) | No | Flags of Convenience are connected to the occurrence of human trafficking and forced labor in fishing. Vessels registered to Flag of Convenience states may lack a legitimate connection to the flag state and may be subject to less rigorous management and oversight by the flag state. |
| Active yellow or red card for failing to tackle illegal fishing (European Union) | No | The European Union gives countries yellow and red cards for failing in their requirements under international law to take action against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. There is evidence linking IUU fishing to an increased risk of human trafficking and forced labor on board fishing vessels. |
| Failure to ratify key treaties and international labor conventions |
Ratifying key treaties and international labor conventions indicates a country’s commitment to uphold international standards.
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