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 forced labor in fish goods. |
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U.S. Department of Labor 2024 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor |
Not profiled in report |
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U.S. Department of State 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report |
Indonesian, Filipino, and Vietnamese, and Chinese national fishermen working on Taiwan-owned and -flagged and Taiwan- owned, foreign-flagged fishing vessels have experienced non- or under-payment of wages, long working hours, physical abuse, lack of food or medical care, denial of sleep, substandard safety equipment, and poor living conditions while indebted to complex, multinational brokerage networks through the continued imposition of recruitment fees and deposits. Migrant fishermen have reported senior crewmembers employ such coercive tactics as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water, retention of identity documents, wage deductions, and non-contractual compulsory sharing of vessel operational costs to retain their labor. These abuses are particularly prevalent in Taiwan’s DWF, comprising more than 2,000 Taiwan-owned and -flagged fishing vessels, and Taiwan-owned, foreign-flagged fishing vessels operating thousands of miles from Taiwan and without adequate oversight. According to FA estimates, approximately 20,800 migrants work onboard DWF vessels –13,800 from Indonesia, 5,000 from the Philippines, 1,000 from Vietnam, 800 from China, and 200 from other Southeast Asian countries – and approximately 12,300 work on coastal and offshore fishing vessels – 9,500 from Indonesia, 1,200 from the Philippines, 1,300 from other Southeast Asian countries, and 300 from China. Senior crew force migrant workers to fish illegal stock, including threatened, endangered, and protected species, placing them at higher risk of criminal repercussions. Many ships remain at sea for years at a time, selectively disabling their transponders and stopping at “refrigeration mother ships” or remote, uninhabited islands to resupply, transfer victims to other ships, and offload illegally caught fish while avoiding detection by law enforcement. Vessel owners and operators take advantage of maritime jurisdictional complexities and ambiguities to perpetrate these crimes with relative impunity; they also frequently change their fishing vessels’ names and nationalities of registry to evade detection by law enforcement. Some migrant fishermen subjected to forced labor onboard international fishing vessels transit Taiwanese ports, especially Kaohsiung, en route to other maritime locations. Some Taiwan-based labor brokerage firms reportedly supply fishing vessels operating under the auspices of China’s DWF – which is highly vulnerable to human trafficking and labor exploitation – with migrant workers as well. |
|
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Seafood Social Risk Tool Profile |
Evidence identified at the country, seafood-industry, and fishing level in the Taiwan country risk profile. |
| Additional civil society organization reports documenting human rights abuses: |
|---|
| 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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