A group of labor activist organizations have sent an open letter to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) pushing the seafood certifier to do more to combat forced labor incidents.
The letter was sent by the Seafood Working Group (SWG), a coalition of labor rights groups comprising Global Labor Justice, International Transport Workers’ Federation, Humanity United, Freedom Fund, and Greenpeace US. The letter said the MSC needs to do more to combat “rampant labor abuse” in the seafood industry, and criticized the MSC’s stance on the ecolabel not offering assurances that there is no forced or child labor within its fisheries.
“In our view, MSC must take responsibility for the role of its social policies and processes in enabling abuse of workers in certified fisheries, and its attendant role in instances of certifying fish produced under conditions of labor exploitation,” the open letter states.
Forced labor issues have been garnering increased attention in recent years, in part kicked off by a sweeping Outlaw Ocean Project report identifying alleged forced labor in the U.S. seafood supply chain. Since that report in October 2023, focus has expanded to a number of different seafood sectors and countries – with a recently released CNN report continuing the trend.
In light of the increased attention, and reports of forced labor in MSC-certified fisheries, the SWG said it should take responsibility for its social policies.
“Rather than accepting its role in certifying fish produced under exploitative labor conditions, the MSC is distancing itself from responsibility,” the SWG said.
An MSC spokesperson told SeafoodSource that it does take reports of forced labor seriously, and recognizes that it is a challenge for the seafood industry.
“As this letter highlights, widespread labor issues in the seafood industry are a significant challenge for the sector. We support efforts to address them and have requirements aimed at doing this,” the spokesperson said. “Fisheries engaged in the MSC program must describe measures in place to prevent forced labor, and any fishery convicted of this, on vessels or in their supply chains, are excluded from being part of the MSC program.”
However, the spokesperson reiterated the stance that the MSC standard is an environmental one rooted in the science of fisheries management and not a certifier of labor standards – and customers understand that...
