The Southern Shrimp Alliance and the Corporate Accountability Lab have filed a joint petition asking the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Best Aquaculture Practice's (BAP) certification process, which is run by the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA), alleging that the certification scheme engages in false or deceptive advertising and marketing.
“GSA, BAP, and retailers promote BAP certification as a tool consumers can use to ensure seafood meets strict environmental and labor standards,” Corporate Accountability Lab Executive Director Charity Ryerson said in a statement. “In practice, BAP certification is little more than a marketing tool. It misleads consumers into thinking all is well, while workers at BAP-certified facilities report severe exploitation and dangerous working conditions, and communities suffer from pollution that has destroyed fisheries and contaminated drinking water.”
GSA did not immediately respond to SeafoodSource’s request for comment.
A three-year study conducted by the Corporate Accountability Lab found that BAP-certified facilities in India “often exhibited working and environmental conditions that were indistinguishable from those at uncertified facilities.”
The nonprofit human rights organization reported a number of labor and environmental violations, including forced labor, unsanitary living conditions, restrictions on movement, underpaid wages, and groundwater contamination.
A Southern Shrimp Alliance analysis further found that 87 percent of the Indian shrimp entry lines rejected at the U.S. border in 2024 for antibiotic contamination originated from BAP-certified facilities.
“BAP’s industry-led certification scheme has clearly failed to fix the many safety, ethical, and environmental problems plaguing the Indian shrimp sector,” Southern Shrimp Alliance Executive Director John Williams said. “Rather than improving conditions, the certification often masks exploitative practices, misleading U.S. consumers into believing they’re purchasing ethical and sustainable products. We urge the FTC to address as soon as possible this marketing-related practice that hides egregious human rights violations.”
Eco-labels such as BAP have become a target for conservation and human rights groups, which claim that the certifications give consumers the false impression that seafood is harvested sustainably, processed in humane conditions, or produced in an environmentally friendly manner. In recent years, groups have sued major companies – including Walmart, Mowi, Gorton’s, ALDI, Conagra, Bumble Bee Foods, and Red Lobster – for relying on eco-labels, in some cases leading to settlements.
“There are a lot of seafood companies relying on third-party certifications as the basis for claiming their products are sustainable, and many large retailers and foodservice companies do the same. Now that the first cases have been found to have merit and have not been dismissed – which took substantial time and money on behalf of the plaintiff lawyers to prove – it’s cheaper and less risky for additional lawyers and lawsuits to file,” Arlin Wasserman, the founder and managing director of seafood industry consultancy Changing Tastes, told SeafoodSource earlier this year.
The Indian shrimp-farming sector has been under fire in 2024 after separate reports from the Corporate Accountability Lab, the Associated Press, and the Outlaw Ocean Project unveiled a number of labor and environmental issues, including forced labor and child labor. Indian shrimp firm Choice Canning Company was singled out by the Outlaw Ocean Project, although the company pushed back on the allegations in an interview with Seafood Source.
The reports drew immediate condemnations from U.S. lawmakers.
“Today’s report outlining the abuses at Choice Canning Company’s shrimp-processing factory in India makes clear why Indian shrimp does not belong on the shelf alongside Louisiana shrimp,” U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) said. “Indian shrimp relies on forced labor and is pumped full of illegal antibiotics. The [United States Trade Representative] needs to act to ensure American consumers are not put in harm’s way.”
GSA’s BAP, which was championed by Choice Canning, also came under fire in the report.
"The Global Seafood Alliance appreciates The Outlaw Ocean Project bringing this to our attention. We take these matters very seriously,” GSA Vice President of Marketing and Communications Devan Meserve said in response to the Ocean Outlaw Project report. “When credible evidence of activities in violation of our Best Aquaculture Practices standards are reported, they are thoroughly investigated. The process is managed by our Program Integrity department, with involvement of specialized and impartial third-party investigators.”
In March, the Southern Shrimp Alliance issued a formal request to the U.S. Department of Labor, asking the government to add Indian shrimp to the government’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. The September 2024 version of the list includes Indian shrimp on its list of goods produced by forced labor.
“Workers often reside at or near the worksite in employer-provided housing – typically in a remote location – and severe security measures including lock-ins and surveillance preventing workers from freely leaving the premises,” the ILAB report states. “Work to process shrimp involves exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, standing for long hours, and high risk of injury, sometimes without proper personal protective equipment. Verbal and physical abuse, including sexual harassment and abuse, are reportedly prevalent. Reports indicate housing facilities are commonly overcrowded, dirty, and poorly maintained.”
