Saving Seafood

Global Labor Justice demands seafood companies enact enforceable brand agreements to protect fisher rights

March 20, 2026 — Members of the Global Labor Justice (GLJ) organization spoke to a crowd during a panel and a vigil outside the Thomas M. Menino exposition building at the 2026 Seafood Expo North America (SENA) on 16 March to advocate for enforceable brand agreements with fishing vessels in Taiwan.

GLJ also hosted a panel session on 16 March, at which speakers discussed instances of alleged forced labor, lack of access to Wi-Fi, withheld paychecks, and abuse that took place on a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified vessel in Taiwan: You Fu.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

The hidden cost of fisheries subsidies

March 17, 2026 — In public finance, some costs are politely kept off the books. The ocean has long been one of them. Governments often speak of “blue growth” and “sustainable use,” yet many policies still treat marine ecosystems as a kind of free input: available, resilient, and cheap to replace. The result is ecological decline. It is also a fiscal problem. States end up assuming risks they would not tolerate on land.

Fishing provides a clear example. For decades, a large share of industrial effort has been propped up by public money. One influential analysis of high-seas fishing found that governments subsidized high-seas fleets by about $4.2 billion in 2014—more than the estimated net economic benefit of that fishing—and that without subsidies, as much as 54% of the high-seas fishing grounds currently exploited would have been unprofitable at the prices and costs prevailing at the time.

Read the full article at Mongabay

Greenpeace criticizes US government’s ranking of Taiwan, Indonesia in recent trafficking report

October 10, 2025 — Environmental nonprofit Greenpeace has alleged that the U.S. government is too lenient on cracking down on trafficking, especially as it relates to major seafood supplying nations.

The organization made the claim in response to the U.S. government’s ranking of Taiwan and Indonesia in its yearly Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, the most recent edition of which included Taiwan achieving a Tier 1 ranking for the 16th time and Indonesia achieving a Tier 2 ranking.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Latest US Trafficking in Persons report maintains higher rankings for Taiwan, Thailand

June 25, 2024 — The U.S. State Department has released its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, and NGOs are criticizing the choice to maintain the rankings of Taiwan and Thailand.

The TIP report classifies countries into a number of different tiers based on the prevalence of forced labor and human trafficking in their supply chains – with Tier 1 being the best and Tier 3 being the worst. In the latest report, Taiwan maintained its position in Tier 1, and Thailand maintained its position in Tier 2 – a move that Global Labor Justice (GLJ) criticized as overlooking abuses in both countries.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA report accuses nine nations, including China and Taiwan, of supporting illegal fishing

September 5, 2023 — The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a report identifying several nations it alleges are engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing or that have not done enough to eliminate the use of forced labor within their domestic fleets.

Angola, Grenada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, The Gambia, and Vanuatu were all alleged to have participated in IUU fishing in 2020, 2021 and 2022, according to the report. Mexico, China, and Russia were given negative certifications for failing to remedy IUU fishing activities, which could lead to the U.S. denying those nations’ access to American ports and waters or import bans.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Trafficking in Persons Report maintains previous ranking of Taiwan, Thailand, upgrades Vietnam

June 16, 2023 — The U.S. Department of State released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report on 15 June, revealing Taiwan and Thailand retained the rankings they held in previous years, despite calls from environmental and labor organizations for them to be downgraded.

The TIP report classifies countries into multiple tiers – Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, and Tier 3 – based on the prevalence of forced labor and human trafficking in the countries, with a lower number representing a country of lower concern.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood Working Group urges downgrade of Thailand, Taiwan in forthcoming US Trafficking in Persons Report

June 5, 2023 — The Seafood Working Group is calling for the downgrade of Thailand and Taiwan in the forthcoming 2023 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

The Seafood Working group is composed of 28 organizations including the International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), Greenpeace USA, and the Environmental Justice Foundation that was formed to advocate for effective government policies and industry actions to end labor exploitation, illegal fishing, and overfishing in the global seafood industry.

Read the full at SeafoodSource

Asian countries feature on US Labor Department report for child, forced labor

October 3, 2022 — Taiwan and Thailand both feature prominently on the new edition of a U.S. Department of Labor report on child and forced labor, which identifies abuses in both countries’ seafood sectors.

Released 28 September, 2022, the “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor,” dinged Taiwan and Thailand for alleged use of forced labor in their fishing sectors, while Thailand also received mention for alleged use of child and forced labor in its shrimp-processing industry.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NGOs accuse US of playing geopolitics in Trafficking in Persons national rankings

August 1, 2022 — Non-governmental organizations and fishing industry groups have had sharply differing reactions to the latest edition of the U.S. government’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP), which was published 19 July, 2022.

The latest edition of TIP, published annually the U.S. State Department, kept Taiwan at Tier One status while upgrading Thailand and Ireland to Tier Two, despite claims of labor abuse in the fishing industries of all three states. Those rankings dismayed some fisheries-focused NGOs, who said geopolitical considerations are blunting Washington’s ability to curb labor abuses in global fisheries.

Read the full article at SeaFoodSource

Taiwanese fishing groups complain NGOs are ignoring industry efforts, endangering future progress

April 28, 2022 — Taiwanese fishing representatives have issued a joint statement to protest the treatment they have received from non-governmental organizations including the Seafood Working Group and Greenpeace.

The Taiwan Deepsea Tuna Longline Boatowners and Exporters Association, Taiwan Squid Fishery Association, Taiwan Tuna Purse Seiners Association, Taiwan Tuna Longline Association, and Distant Fisheries Youth Association said the industry’s continuing efforts on labor are “simply ignored” by the campaign groups.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource