Seafood News Supply & Trade

Accusations of slave labor resurface in Thailand

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By SeafoodSource staff
19 June, 2012 - Thailand supplies a large portion of America’s seafood. But Thailand’s giant fishing fleet is chronically short of up to 60,000 fishermen per year, leaving captains scrambling to find crew. Human traffickers have stepped in, selling captives from Cambodia and Myanmar to the captains for a few hundred dollars each. Once at sea, the men often go months, or even years, without setting foot on land.

Cambodian Vannak Prum’s destiny changed in a dirt-road town called Malai. It’s a Cambodian outpost on the border with Thailand that is known for its involvement in the trafficking of human beings.

Prum arrived in Malai seven years ago searching for work. His wife was pregnant, and he needed money for the hospital bill. He intended to work for two months, but ended up meeting a human trafficker.

A few days later, Prum was sold onto a Thai fishing boat the length of a basketball court, where he worked in tight conditions with 10 men. He says he didn’t reach land again for three years.

“I didn't get paid,” he says. “I remained in the middle of the sea and worked day and night.”

Click here to read the full story from NPR >

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