January 14, 2022 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has released an action plan to combat human trafficking at home and abroad, an initiative that includes a focus on labor issues in the global seafood industry.
The U.S. Trade Representative National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, released in December 2021, involves better coordination among American agencies as well as with other countries’ law enforcement bodies to track and prosecute human trafficking on fishing vessels and in onshore seafood processing facilities. Under the plan, the USTR will ramp up its efforts to encourage other countries to put in place bans on imports of goods made with forced labor.