Saving Seafood

U.S. Shrimpers Petition to Stop Imports of Indian Shrimp Using Forced Labor

October 28, 2026 — The following was released by the Southern Shrimp Alliance:

U.S. commercial shrimp fishermen, supported by the Southern Shrimp Alliance, filed a trade action today to end imports of Indian shrimp produced through the reprehensible use of forced labor. The Section 337 complaint asks the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to determine whether forced labor in the supply chains of major seafood producer Nekkanti Sea Foods constitutes an unfair trade practice that harms domestic shrimp producers.

“Forced labor is not a competitive advantage; it’s an inhumane practice that must end,” said Blake Price, executive director for the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Multiple investigations find that Indian shrimp producers cut their costs by exploiting vulnerable populations, who are compelled by debt bondage, restricted movement, and abusive bosses to work in hazardous conditions to make shrimp that is exported to the United States. When the U.S. opens its market to Indian shrimp, we fail those vulnerable workers and allow immoral practices to push ethical producers out of the market.”

Growing Forced Labor Findings Unaddressed

In 2024, Corporate Accountability Lab, which is serving as co-counsel in the case, released a three-year studydocumenting widespread use of forced labor across all levels of India’s shrimp supply chain. The Associated Press, the Outlaw Ocean Project, and CNN have since corroborated the study, and the U.S. Department of Laboradded shrimp from India to the 2024 List of Goods Produced with Forced Labor (TVPRA List), officially notifying all U.S. buyers sourcing shrimp from India to exercise additional due diligence to combat forced labor.

The Tariff Act of 1930 grants the ITC authority under Section 337 to block the importation of goods involved in unfair acts or methods of competition that either injure or threaten to injure a U.S. industry.

Distorted Prices of Indian Shrimp Harm American Shrimpers

India is a leading supplier of shrimp to the U.S. market, accounting for over half of all peeled shrimp (52%) and 40% of all frozen warmwater shrimp imported into the United States in 2025. The ITC has repeatedly determined that the U.S. shrimp industry is harmed or threatened with injury by Indian shrimp companies due to dumping (selling below fair value) and subsidies from the Indian government that support shrimp production for export. However, these trade remedies do not fully address the unfair competition caused by forced labor, which undercuts U.S. shrimp producers and costs them sales in the U.S. market.

As Indian shrimp prices fell to record lows, they dragged down all shrimp prices, causing the U.S. shrimp industry to lose half of its value between 2021 and 2023. America’s multigenerational mom-and-pop shrimping businesses closed in staggering numbers. By 2024, state shrimping licenses reached their lowest levels on record, and the total number of commercial shrimp licenses for the Gulf of America dropped to less than one-third of what they were in 2000.

Additionally, studies have linked the pricing pressures resulting from the use of forced labor in India to increased worker exploitation in other major shrimp-producing countries, such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Meanwhile, America is quickly losing its ability to harvest sustainable shrimp from local waters because of uncompetitive practices, jeopardizing domestic food security.

“This case aims to pressure India’s shrimp aquaculture industry to remove forced labor from their supply chains to access the large U.S. market,” explained Price. “Unfairly traded shrimp undercut American shrimpers, who are leaving their cherished, multigenerational way of life to make ends meet. America is losing its ability to access the sustainable shrimp stocks that grow naturally in local waters.”

ITC Decision Coming Soon

The complaint offers a clear timeline and transparent plan for the U.S. shrimp industry, which for years has shown evidence of unfair practices and their damaging effects on American fishing families to the Department of Labor, the Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies without any resulting action.

The Section 337 complaint follows a strict legal process. The ITC Commissioners will decide within 30 calendar days (November 27, 2026) whether to initiate the case and announce how it will proceed. An eight-day public comment period will follow publication in the Federal Register.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Read the fact sheet: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Section-337-Fact-Sheet-Final.pdf

Read the Corporate Accountability Lab’s (co-counsel) press release, blog, and landing page

Filed complaint: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Sec-337-Complaint-PUBLIC.pdf

Investigation 337-3935

Labeling lawsuits reshaping sustainable seafood marketing strategies

February 21, 2024 — A series of lawsuits related to sustainability claims and eco-labels have changed the seafood industry’s approach to marketing sustainability bona fides. Lawsuits filed against Mowi, Gorton’s, ALDI, Conagra, Bumble Bee Foods, and Red Lobster are either pending or have resulted in settlements.

The suits should be a wake-up call to the seafood industry that it needs to change its marketing practices, according to Arlin Wasserman – the founder and managing director of Changing Tastes, a seafood industry consultancy working at the intersection of sustainability, public health, information technology, demographics, and the changing role of the culinary professional. Wasserman, who was previously the vice president of sustainability at foodservice provider Sodexo, recently discussed how companies can adapt and modernize their marketing campaigns with SeafoodSource. 

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Notable seafood product launches hitting US market in early 2024

February 7, 2024 —  A slew of new seafood products are hitting shelves and freezers in U.S. supermarkets in February 2024.

Essen, Germany-based retailer ALDI is offering specials on several of its private-label seafood products in February and is launching pollock portions for the first time. Available from 28 February onward, the pollock portions – coming in the form of sandwiches in original and dill pickle flavors under the company’s Fremont Fish Market brand – retail for USD 4.99 (EUR 4.60) each.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Aldi’s motion to dismiss lawsuit alleging deceptive sustainability claims denied

February 17, 2022 — U.S. Superior Court for the District of Columbia Judge Heidi Pasichow has rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging Aldi had been deceptive in its claims of sustainability for its fresh Atlantic salmon products.

Filed in January 2021, the lawsuit alleges Aldi’s use of the phrase “Simple. Sustainable. Seafood.” on its Atlantic salmon products “leads consumers to believe that the salmon was farmed in accordance with high environmental and animal welfare standards, but in reality, the salmon are sourced unsustainably,” Toxin Free USA, which is suing Aldi, said in a new press release. GMO/Toxin Free USA is a nonprofit that advocates against the use of GMOs, synthetic pesticides, and other toxins in food products. Its complaint describes the net-pen farms in Chile, the source of some of the salmon sold by Aldi, as using an “ecologically dangerous method” of salmon production in which thousands of fish are crowded into cages or pens.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Red Lobster latest seafood vendor to get hit with sustainability-focused lawsuit

June 15, 2021 — A growing number of class-action lawsuits are being filed against seafood retailers and foodservice outlets, claiming their offerings do not meet their own sustainability claims.

Earlier this month, in a complaint filed in the U.S. Superior Court in the District of Columbia, ALDI was accused of false advertising and marketing, with the advocacy group GMO/Toxin Free USA alleging ALDI’s claim that its salmon is sustainably sourced is not credible. Earlier this year, Mowi agreed to settle a similar lawsuit for USD 1.3 million (EUR 1.1 million). The complaint alleged that the sustainability claims on its Ducktrap River of Maine smoked salmon were false.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Riding strong sales, US grocery chains make expansion plans

March 30, 2021 — With the pandemic-related boom in retail seafood sales continuing in 2021, several U.S. supermarket chains are leaning on the category more as they unleash a wave of expansion.

ALDI, Lidl, Amazon Fresh, Giant, and others have all announced plans to open new stores in the U.S., riding a wave of sector growth, and more is on the way, according to the latest forecast available from the National Retail Federation. ALDI plans to open 100 new stores this year, and Lidl plans to open 50 outlets by the end of 2021. Amazon has opened 11 Amazon Fresh stores in various U.S. locations during the pandemic and plans to open 28 additional stores, Bloomberg recently reported.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

North Korean workers prep seafood going to US stores, restaurants

October 5, 2017 — HUNCHUN, China — The workers wake up each morning on metal bunk beds in fluorescent-lit Chinese dormitories, North Koreans outsourced by their government to process seafood that ends up in American stores and homes.

Privacy is forbidden. They cannot leave their compounds without permission. They must take the few steps to the factories in pairs or groups, with North Korean minders ensuring no one strays. They have no access to telephones or email. And they are paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest — as much as 70 percent — is taken by North Korea’s government.

This means Americans buying salmon for dinner at Walmart or ALDI may inadvertently have subsidized the North Korean government as it builds its nuclear weapons program, an AP investigation has found. Their purchases may also have supported what the United States calls “modern day slavery” — even if the jobs are highly coveted by North Koreans.

At a time when North Korea faces sanctions on many exports, the government is sending tens of thousands of workers worldwide, bringing in revenue estimated at anywhere from $200 million to $500 million a year. That could account for a sizable portion of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, which South Korea says have cost more than $1 billion.

While the presence of North Korean workers overseas has been documented, the AP investigation reveals for the first time that some products they make go to the United States, which is now a federal crime. AP also tracked the products made by North Korean workers to Canada, Germany and elsewhere in the European Union.

Besides seafood, AP found North Korean laborers making wood flooring and sewing garments in factories in Hunchun. Those industries also export to the U.S. from Hunchun, but AP did not track specific shipments except for seafood.

Read the full story at the Associated Press