The report features new interviews with survivors of trafficking and forced labour in Indonesia who faced abuse and food deprivation on Thai-operated fishing vessels. These ships transferred their tuna and other fish to a Thai carrier vessel, Marine One, which is owned by Thailand’s Silver Sea Line Co. Ltd – the same company implicated in a recent Associated Press investigation for transporting seafood caught using forced labour to a Thai Union supplier.
In one testimonial in the report, a former worker stated: ‘The broker [trafficker] called us “soccer balls”, meaning that we were under their feet and could be kicked anywhere and didn’t have the ability to go anywhere on our own.’
Over 96 percent of Thai Union’s tuna is sourced from areas other than Thailand, yet the company has only committed to a human rights audit for the four percent of tuna caught in Thai waters, along with its shrimp operations. Thai Union has also ended the transfer of fish from ships to larger shadowy vessels in Thai waters, a process known as transhipment, but has not addressed the same issue for the majority of its tuna which is sourced from other countries. Transhipment at sea exacerbates the risk of human rights abuse by enabling vessels to trap workers and stay at sea indefinitely.
Following the Associated Press exposé earlier this year, Thai Union announced it would drop the supplier connected to labour abuse in the investigation. However, the company did not state that it would stop sourcing fish from Silver Sea Line Co. Ltd reefers, which have again been implicated in the transhipment of fish caught by forced labour. In its report, Greenpeace Southeast Asia called on Thai Union to address labour issues throughout its seafood supply chains by ending purchases from any vessels transhipping at sea, ensuring the traceability of all products back to the ship, and increasing transparency throughout its operations.
The forced labour and trafficking survivors interviewed by Greenpeace Southeast Asia detailed beatings and food deprivation for anyone who tried to escape. The tuna fishermen on their vessels were forced to work 20-22 hour days for little to no pay, often deprived of basic necessities like showers.
Greenpeace recently launched a global campaign demanding that Thai Union take far-reaching steps to eliminate labour abuse and destructive, wasteful fishing practices from its supply chains. To date, over 250,000 people around the world have joined an online campaign to urge Thai Union to embrace sustainable and ethical fishing practices.
Mark Dia, Regional Oceans Campaign Coordinator, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said:
‘Thousands of trafficked workers that caught fish including tuna destined for Thailand are now either unaccounted for or stranded in Indonesia with an uncertain future. As the largest canned tuna company in the world, Thai Union has the power to transform the global tuna industry and improve the lives of countless workers at sea. Piecemeal measures to address an issue this urgent are not only insufficient, they are disrespectful.’
Ariana Densham, Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace UK said:
‘Major investigations into modern-day slavery in the fishing industry just keep coming. Corporate seafood giants like Thai Union have a particular responsibility to ensure their supply chains are free from human misery, so that customers are not unwitting participants in the exploitation of people. Thai Union’s UK brand John West is rightly under fire at the moment for its broken sustainability promise, but it doesn’t just need to clean up its fishing methods: it needs to let Thai Union know there’s no appetite for unjust and unsustainable tuna.
Notes to editors:
- To read the entire report, click here.
- To watch video testimonials from forced labour and trafficking survivors, click here.
For interviews and further information, contact: Luke Massey – 07973 873 155 – luke.massey@greenpeace.org
Alternatively, contact the Greenpeace press desk on press.uk@greenpeace.org or 020 7865 8255
