International NGO Greenpeace claims to have linked forced labor on Taiwanese fishing vessels to Bumble Bee canned tuna that was sold in the United States.
A recently-released report from the NGO, “Netting Profits, Risking Lives: The Unresolved Human and Environmental Exploitation at Sea,” documents 10 complaints from Indonesian fishers working on Taiwanese-flagged distant water fishing vessels alleging instances of abuse and forced labor. Greenpeace claims that four of the 12 vessels listed in the complaints – Chaan Ying, Guan Wang, Shin Lian Fa No. 168, and Sheng Ching Fa No. 96 – supplied tuna to Bumble Bee, which is owned by Taiwanese tuna giant FCF, and some of that tuna produced via forced labor was ultimately sold under the Bumble Bee brand in a supermarket in the state of Maine.
Bumble Bee did not respond to a request for comment.
The report was spearheaded by Greenpeace Southeast Asia in collaboration with the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI).
“The push for overfishing, for modern slavery at sea, for shark finning all come from the same source: exploitation in the name of profits,” Beyond Seafood project team lead for Greenpeace USA Charli Fritzner said in a statement. “Businesses, like Bumble Bee and other tuna brands, need to own up to their responsibility and the role they play in this industry. The need to actively engage with upstream suppliers to ensure there are real grievance mechanisms in place as well as working with them to install wifi aboard vessels.”
All 10 of the cases included fishers reporting that they were trapped in exploitative situations, with recruitment agencies holding onto personal identity documents to keep them from leaving, according to Greenpeace. The report also claims that …
