Saving Seafood

US: Forced labor continues on Thai fishing vessels

April 14, 2016 — WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that forced labor on Thai fishing vessels has continued in the past year despite legal reforms and arrests following an Associated Press investigation into the country’s seafood industry.

The department made the assessment in its annual global review of human rights practices, released in Washington by Secretary of State John Kerry. The report covers the 2015 calendar year.

The report finds that the Thai government has reaffirmed its “zero tolerance” policy for human trafficking and updated many laws that enhance regulatory powers and increase punishment for violations. An amended anti-trafficking law provides protection to whistleblowers and gives authorities the power to halt operations temporarily or suspend licenses of businesses and vehicles involved in human trafficking.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New Jersey Herald

Researchers Find Fish That Walks the Way Land Vertebrates Do

March 24, 2016 — It’s one of the most famous chapters in evolution, so familiar that it regularly inspires New Yorker cartoons: Some 375 million years ago, our ancestors emerged from the sea, evolving from swimming fish to vertebrates that walked on land.

Scientists still puzzle over exactly how the transition from sea to land took place. For the most part, they’ve had to rely on information gleaned from fossils of some of the intermediate species.

But now a team of researchers has found a remarkable parallel to one of evolution’s signature events. In a cave in Thailand, they’ve discovered that a blind fish walks the way land vertebrates do.

The waterfall-climbing cave fish, Cryptotora thamicola, has even evolved many of the skeletal features that our ancestors did for walking, including a full-blown pelvis.

“It’s really weird,” said John R. Hutchinson, a biologist at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London who was not involved in the new study. “It’s a good example of how much fish diversity there’s left to be discovered.”

New Initiative Seeks to Improve Human Rights Protections in Thailand’s Fishing Sector

WASHINGTON — March 14, 2016 — Renowned Thai human rights and labor advocate Sompong Srakaew has formed a new initiative aimed at ridding Southeast Asia’s seafood sector of human trafficking and other labor abuses.

MAST, the Multi-stakeholder Initiative for Accountable Supply Chain of Thai Fisheries, brings together Mr. Sompong’s Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN) and TLCS Legal Advocate Company in Bangkok. Human rights consultancy The Mara Partners and law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP are coordinating MAST’s efforts in the U.S.

“MAST will continue the work of reforming Thai fisheries to eliminate human trafficking and all other forms of forced labor, as well as illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing practices,” Mr. Sompong said. “We will work together with civil society, industry, and governments to help put an end to these abuses.”

Mr. Sompong’s LPN, founded in 2004, has advocated for migrant worker rights, conducted raids to free migrant workers in forced labor situations, and helped strengthen The Kingdom of Thailand’s human trafficking laws. As LPN’s founder, Mr. Sompong was recognized by the U.S. State Department with a Trafficking in Persons Hero Award in 2008 for his efforts to combat modern day slavery and improve the lives of migrant workers in Thailand.

MAST’s immediate goals include the creation of a Thai fishermen’s union; the establishment of centers at ports to provide shelter, food, and first aid to fishermen; and the strengthening of public awareness of migrant worker living conditions. It aims to serve as a watchdog to prevent human trafficking and to open a legal clinic for trafficking victims.

MAST will also begin exploring effective and achievable ways to help track and monitor fishing vessels of all sizes and ensure the integrity of the supply chain from the sea to the factory. It seeks to promote full compliance with Thailand’s new law combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and requiring an ethical supply chain.

Nine Thai fishing organizations have already committed to joining MAST’s efforts, including the National Fisheries Association of Thailand, the Pair Trawlers Association of Thailand, and the Coalition of Peeling Sheds. The group will work to build a coalition of governments, international organizations, private sector companies, trade associations, NGOs, human rights lawyers, and academics.

Illegal practices in Thailand’s multi-billion-dollar fishing industry have been the focus of recent reports in international media. Mr. Sompong has been featured discussing the problem on PBS NewsHour and in The Australian.

MAST leaders Sompong Srakaew and Dornnapha Sukkree meet with U.S. Department of Labor officials in Washington. (2016)

The first group of Thai and Burmese workers rescued from Ambon Island, Indonesia by the LPN. The group was provided with food and basic necessities until their safe return home. (2014)

A group of workers being held in a private jail on Ambon Island, Indonesia. Fearing that this photo could be his last, one worker said, “Take my picture and tell my family, I am here and I am still alive.” These workers have since been rescued and retuned home, but their government only identified two of them as victims of human trafficking. (2014)

On Ambon Island, Indonesia, Samak Tubtanee, head of the Human Trafficking Office at the LPN, works to return forced laborers to their homes. (2014)

The graves of unknown Thai fishermen on Ambon Island, Indonesia. (2014)

A group of migrant workers at an immigration detention facility on Ambon Island, Indonesia. (2014)

The overgrown graves of fishermen from Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar cover the forest floor of Benjina Island, Indonesia. (2014)

LPN Program Manager Patima Tangprachakoon, alongside Laotian officials, meets with the family of a missing Laotian fisherman at the Laotian embassy in Thailand. The fisherman was eventually returned home safely. (2014)

 

U.S. Closing a Loophole on Products Tied to Slaves

February 15, 2016 — WASHINGTON — President Obama will sign legislation this week that effectively bans American imports of fish caught by forced labor in Southeast Asia, part of a flurry of recent actions by the White House, federal agencies, international trade unions and foreign governments to address lawlessness at sea and to better protect offshore workers and the marine environment.

Last week, the president signed the Port State Measures Agreement, which empowers officials to prohibit foreign vessels suspected of illegal fishing from receiving port services and access. The United States became the 20th country to ratify the pact.

“Step by step, I do really think we’re making progress, and there is a growing awareness of how much we need to get more control over the world’s oceans and the range of crime that happens out there,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview on Monday. He added that he hoped to build on the momentum in the fall during a global meeting, called Our Oceans, that he will host in Washington.

The amendment that the president has said he will sign this week would close a loophole in the Tariff Act of 1930, which bars products made by convict, forced or indentured labor. For 85 years, the law has exempted goods derived from slavery if American domestic production could not meet demand.

In July, The New York Times published an article about forced labor on Thai boats, many of which catch the fish destined for pet food. It chronicled the lives of several dozen indentured Cambodian migrants, most of them boys, working on the ships, all of whom are now free. Among them was a man named Lang Long, who was shackled by the neck during his three years of captivity at sea.

“I think most Americans were horrified to learn that the fish in the pet food they give to their cats and dogs was being caught by children forced to work on ships against their will,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, who, along with Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, sponsored the amendment, which has long been a goal of human rights advocates. The amendment focused on all types of forced and child labor, not just that used to produce seafood, and was passed by the Senate on Thursday with bipartisan support.

About 90 percent of seafood for human and pet consumption in the United States is imported, and the oceanic administration’s proposed rules are meant to protect threatened fish species and crack down on seafood entering American ports that has been caught illegally or is fraudulently labeled. The new rules would impose chain-of-custody reporting requirements for 13 species of at-risk fish, including cod, snapper, mahi mahi and several types of tuna.

The list includes types of fish that represent about 40 percent of the seafood that enters the United States, when measured by value. A spokesman for the oceanic agency said it hoped to include all imported seafood species, though no timetable has been set.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Labor Abuse in Shrimp Peeling Sheds in Thailand Showed US Importers Asleep at the Switch

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — December 22, 2015 — The recent announcement by the Thai Shrimp Association that all shrimp peeling will be brought in house by major processors, and that use of third party peeling sheds will be discontinued, is not a ‘win’ for the shrimp industry.

Instead it shows that many have been asleep at the switch, and the safeguards put in place such as audits and certifications, have been inadequate.  However, several US importers say that they had already taken steps to safeguard their supply chain against labor abuse.

Jeff Sedacca, President of the shrimp division of National Fish & Seafood said, “We saw many years ago that Thai safeguards were not adequate, so we took proactive steps to create, implement, and enforce safeguards of our own, including discontinuation of peeling sheds in 2010 and advocating for expansion of fair labor practices required for BAP certification.”

Sedacca says his company has fully committed to the BAP program, and is one of the largest four star shrimp suppliers in the US.

In Thailand, National intends to gain four star certification in the First Quarter of this year, when the new feedmill and hatchery to supply many of their farms gets its certification.  The feed mill and hatchery has been operating this year, but has to build up a production record prior to being inspected by BAP auditors.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.

Global Supermarkets Selling Shrimp Peeled by Slaves

December 13, 2015 — SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand (AP) — Every morning at 2 a.m., they heard a kick on the door and a threat: Get up or get beaten. For the next 16 hours, No. 31 and his wife stood in the factory that owned them with their aching hands in ice water. They ripped the guts, heads, tails and shells off shrimp bound for overseas markets, including grocery stores and all-you-can-eat buffets across the United States.

After being sold to the Gig Peeling Factory, they were at the mercy of their Thai bosses, trapped with nearly 100 other Burmese migrants. Children worked alongside them, including a girl so tiny she had to stand on a stool to reach the peeling table. Some had been there for months, even years, getting little or no pay. Always, someone was watching.

No names were ever used, only numbers given by their boss — Tin Nyo Win was No. 31.

Pervasive human trafficking has helped turn Thailand into one of the world’s biggest shrimp providers. Despite repeated promises by businesses and government to clean up the country’s $7 billion seafood export industry, an Associated Press investigation has found shrimp peeled by modern-day slaves is reaching the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The problem is fueled by corruption and complicity among police and authorities. Arrests and prosecutions are rare. Raids can end up sending migrants without proper paperwork to jail, while owners go unpunished.

____

More than 2,000 trapped fishermen have been freed this year as a result of an ongoing Associated Press investigative series into slavery in the Thai seafood industry. The reports also have led to a dozen arrests, millions of dollars’ worth of seizures and proposals for new federal laws.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

 

Nestle admits Thai seafood suppliers abuse workers, promises to pursue solutions aggressively

November 23, 2015 — WASHINGTON (AP) — Impoverished migrant workers in Thailand are sold or lured by false promises and forced to catch and process fish that ends up in global food giant Nestle SA’s supply chains.

The unusual disclosure comes from Geneva-based Nestle SA itself, which in an act of self-policing announced the conclusions of its yearlong internal investigation on Monday. The study found virtually all U.S. and European companies buying seafood from Thailand are exposed to the same risks of abuse in their supply chains.

Nestle SA, among the biggest food companies in the world, launched the investigation in December 2014, after reports from news outlets and nongovernmental organizations tied brutal and largely unregulated working conditions to their shrimp, prawns and Purina brand pet foods. Its findings echo those of The Associated Press in reports this year on slavery in the seafood industry that have resulted in the rescue of more than 2,000 fishermen.

The laborers come from Thailand’s much poorer neighbors Myanmar and Cambodia. Brokers illegally charge them fees to get jobs, trapping them into working on fishing vessels and at ports, mills and seafood farms in Thailand to pay back more money than they can ever earn.

“Sometimes, the net is too heavy and workers get pulled into the water and just disappear. When someone dies, he gets thrown into the water,” one Burmese worker told the nonprofit organization Verite commissioned by Nestle.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News 

EU probes illegal fishing, slave labor before Thai ruling

BRUSSELS (AP) — October 1, 2015 — The European Union is including Thailand’s actions to stamp out slave labor in the fishing industry during its investigation whether to impose sanctions on the major fish-exporting nation for failing to crack down on illegal and unregulated fishing.

The EU is expected to rule by the end of the year whether to impose an EU seafood import ban on Thailand and is in negotiations with Bangkok on amending a series of fishing practices which it considers as seriously contributing to the depletion of fish stocks.

The EU has successfully forced several nations to change its fisheries policies, but in the case of Thailand though, it is also looking into the social conditions of some fishermen that many have called slavery.

An AP investigation has shown that enslaved fishermen are routinely hauled from Thailand to work on smaller Thai trawlers in foreign waters where they are given little or no pay. Hundreds of former slaves told AP they were beaten or witnessed other crew members being attacked. They were routinely denied medicine, forced to work 22-hour shifts with no days off and given inadequate food and water.

“We are very concerned about the situation, both at the level of fishing and slavery. And we think we have to deal with both issues,” a senior EU fisheries official said on condition of anonymity because the talks with the Thai authorities were still ongoing.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

EU Extends Thailand’s “Yellow Card” Deadline Past October to Fix Trafficking Issues

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Bangkok Post] — September 18, 2015 — Thailand has been given more time by the European Union to stamp out illegal fishing practices beyond the initial deadline of October, government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Thursday.

Maj Gen Sansern said the respite was confirmed by a Thai delegation that has gone to the EU Council headquarters in Brussels to report progress in Thailand’s efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

In April, the EU yellow-carded the country’s fishing industry giving it six months to fix its IUU situation or face an expensive ban on seafood imports into the EU.

Maj Gen Sansern said Thailand was being given more time to counter the IUU situation, but stressed that the country must make tangible achievements on three major issues, including the promulgation of the Fisheries Act, the implementation of Marine Fisheries Management Policy, and the implementation of a national action plan. These issues were expected to have been dealt with by the October deadline.

He did not say whether the EU had set a new deadline.

“The prime minister is glad that the EU understands the Thai government’s intentions and is allowing it to continue to solve the problem,” Maj Gen Sansern said. “Thailand has shown its sincerity in tackling the problem and there has been progress in several areas.”

Thailand’s overall annual exports to the EU are estimated to be worth between 23.2 billion baht and 30 billion baht. Its global fish exports were worth about 110 billion baht in 2014.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.

Friend of the Sea Will Host Major Retailers in Bangkok to Discuss Seafood Supply Chain Improvements

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] September 17, 2015 — Major retailers will have an opportunity to improve their seafood sourcing policies at a meeting in Bangkok this autumn.

Organised by Friend of the Sea, in cooperation with the Earth Island Institute and the support of the Thai Tuna Industry Association, the One to One Meeting will run from 9-12 November.

The event, including keynote presentations from Infofish, TTIA, Global Gap and much networking, is a unique opportunity for delegates of major retailers and catering chains to meet certified international seafood suppliers.

Retailers are invited to participate, free of charge, as Friend of the Sea recognizes their crucial role in motivating suppliers to implement sustainable practices.

The first edition of the One to One Meeting, held in Venice in November 2013, brought together 16 retailers and representatives of 38 certified companies from all over the world.

“We are truly delighted to see that many executives have already confirmed their presence at the One to One Meeting,” comments Paolo Bray, Director and Founder of Friend of the Sea and Director of the Dolphin-Safe project in Europe.

“This is a clear sign that Friend of the Sea and Dolphin-Safe represent reliable and valuable certifications to retailers and catering. Our event is the only one to one for sustainable seafood and companies should not miss this opportunity”.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.