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 and shrimp sector. |
|
U.S. Department of Labor 2024 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor |
Evidence of child labor found in fishing industry and on sea vessels. |
|
U.S. Department of State 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report |
Smugglers, brokers, employers, and others exploit Thai and migrant workers in labor trafficking in commercial fishing and related industries. Increased migration coincides with an increase of informal broker networks operating between Thailand and Burma, which recruit migrants for work in various sectors, including in on fishing vessels. Workers in the seafood processing and fishing sectors increasingly faced forced overtime because of an increasing demand for shelf-stable seafood, as well as unsafe working conditions. Vessel owners, brokers, and senior vessel crew subject Thai, Burmese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Indonesian men and boys to forced labor on Thai and foreign-owned fishing boats. Some are paid little or irregularly, sometimes as infrequently as once a year, incur debts from brokers and employers, work as much as 18 to 20 hours per day for seven days a week, and are without adequate food, water, or medical supplies. Some boat captains threaten, beat, and drug fishermen to work longer and sell fishermen drugs as a means to generate additional debt. Vessel owners confiscate the identity documents of fishermen without their consent. Some trafficking victims in the fishing sector had difficulty returning home because of isolated workplaces, unpaid wages, and a lack of legitimate identity documents or safe means to travel. Employers in fishing and seafood processing often made confusing wage deductions for documentation fees, advances, and other charges, making it difficult for workers to account for their wages accurately. Research published in 2019 and 2020 found between 14 and 18 percent of migrant fishermen were exploited in forced labor in the Thai fishing industry, indicating traffickers exploited thousands of workers on fishing vessels. Credible reports indicate some corrupt officials protect fishing vessel owners from law enforcement actions, inspections, and prosecutions and collude with traffickers. |
|
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Seafood Social Risk Tool Profile |
Evidence identified at the seafood-industry and processing level in the Thailand country risk profile. |
| 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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