At The Sustainable Seafood Summit (TSSS) in Osaka in October 2025, during the panel entitled "Human Rights Violations and Corporate Accountability Measures in the Seafood Industry," Achmed Mudzakir of Forum Silaturahmi Pelaut Indonesia (FOSPI), an Indonesian migrant worker and labor rights advocate based in Taiwan, captivated the audience and his co-panelists (including this author) with first-hand account and stories of fellow migrant fishers' experiences onboard fishing vessels and the inhumane conditions they all worked and lived under. In one account, Achmed shared of a fellow migrant fisher who suffered injuries and eventually died on the boat after the captain did not allow him to receive appropriate medical attention on land, and instead ordered him to continue to work on the vessel. These first-hand accounts and personal stories of workers are important in conferences such as the intensive two-day TSSS 2025, which are typically, and reasonably, stocked with technical presentations and high-level discussions of innovations being explored by various parties to address pressing challenges faced by the seafood industry in areas such as the environment, technology, finance, and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing prevention or traceability.
Turning attention towards workers and human rights issues provides a counterpoint to the reports and presentations about advances or improvements made in various aspects of seafood sustainability. It reminds stakeholders that as important as it is to ensure that the environment is taken care of and that technology is harnessed to serve the ends of business and states, it is equally vital to ensure that the very human beings who are out at sea, and those directly engaged in all aspects of production to keep the industry afloat, are guaranteed safe and decent working and living conditions.
It must be recognized that there have been efforts towards this end. But stories like those shared by Achmed during the TSSS 2025 emphasize that there is still a lot more to be done in the area of human rights in the seafood industry.
Human Rights Issues in the Seafood Sector
The author of this article is from Dignity in Work for All (DIWA) (formerly known as Verite Southeast Asia), an international labor and human rights organization based in the Philippines with offices in Japan, Thailand, and Australia as well as teams in Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, among others. DIWA conducts social audits and human rights impact assessments, training and capacity-building, and research and policy advocacy, globally, though program activities are concentrated in the Southeast and Northeast Asian subregions. DIWA traces its roots to social audits and global supply chain monitoring in the apparel sector in the late 1990s-early 2000s, but it has since significantly expanded its work to include various other sectors such as electronics, logistics, agriculture, seafood, among others; and its programs include engagement with business, government, civil society, workers, and other stakeholders.
In its more than two decades of work in the seafood sector, DIWA has been documenting and reporting human rights issues not unlike those shared during the Osaka summit. Despite regulatory reforms and industry efforts, migrant fishers remain highly vulnerable to extreme human rights issues such as forced labor and trafficking, or modern slavery.
In the Southeast Asian subregion, migrant fishers typically pay exorbitant recruitment-related fees and costs to secure employment in the destination countries. Fishers would need to borrow money to cover costs and be directed to loan facilities which may have ties with the labor agencies themselves. Other costs, such as those for training, temporary accommodations, and even daily expenses, further emerge during the recruitment process and add to the financial burden. It is also not uncommon for wage deduction schemes to be set up, i.e., labor agencies front the costs of recruitment which are recouped via regular deductions to workers' wages as soon as they start working. Also not uncommon are forced savings schemes in which portions of workers' wages are retained as "savings" that are released to the workers upon completion of their contract and return to their home countries. Most countries do not prohibit the charging of recruitment fees, but would usually regulate or cap it at amounts equivalent to at least one month's wages; however, weak regulatory enforcement, low awareness among fishers, coupled with their dire financial situations lead to schemes that place workers in situations of debt bondage and other forms of exploitation.
DIWA's research and assessments find that terms and conditions of employment are often not made clear to workers before they sign the dotted line prior to being deployed for work. If so explained to them, contracts may not comprehensively state all the necessary information or workers find the same to be vastly different from the actual working conditions (e.g., a different boat with inferior facilities, payment systems involve wage withholding, etc.).
Fishers also do not have full control over their passports and other necessary documents (such as a Seaman's Book, or Seafarer's Identity Document [SID] and Seafarer's Record Book [SRB]). Boat captains keep their passports and documents stashed away in their cabin while the vessel is out at sea. Even when docked at ports, there is no guarantee that fishers may retrieve and hold on to their identity and travel documents. DIWA has also encountered situations in which brokers in the destination countries are the ones retaining fishers' documents.
Despite established laws and regulations, underage workers have been found to be working in the seafood sector. During DIWA's research in the export-oriented tuna industry in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, for instance, DIWA staff come across many fishers who might have been adults at the time of interviews, but who were below 18 years old when they started working. Ports and docks in the subregion have also been observed to have minors or young-looking persons informally performing manual labor or, at the very least, milling about in areas where children should not be present. Families of migrant fishers have also reported to DIWA of their children, minors, leaving school and joining their fathers in fishing ventures in international waters.
In Taiwan, boats and ships for municipal, coastal or deep-water fishing have been observed to have subpar facilities. Sleeping quarters barely have enough room for one person to stand in, do not have any partitions, and barely any furnishings such as cots or pillows. Fishers lack or have inadequate personal protective equipment on board. And similar to Achmed's story, there is limited or no access to necessary or appropriate medical care; migrant fishers may not be entitled to benefits such as medical insurance and social security to which land-based workers are legally entitled. Occupational safety and health violations and risks are also prevalent. Out at sea, security issues are more pronounced.
Workers in the seafood sector are paid low wages; many migrant fishers are notably paid amounts falling below legal minimum rates. Delayed or withheld wage payments have also been reported, along with unauthorized deductions. Working hours and days are long and excessive, especially for migrant fishers, depriving them of adequate rest.
Chronic verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual harassment, and gender or race discrimination have been reported in the sector, whether out at sea or at land-based facilities processing seafood harvests. Seafood industry workers typically have low awareness levels with regard to freedom of association; and there is inability to formally organize and bargain collectively among migrant fishers.
Employers of migrant and local fishers, as well as workers at processing facilities and source ponds/farms, lack appropriate systems to ensure that human rights and social responsibility are adequately integrated into business operations. They have inadequate policies or company commitments on labor or human rights. Where there may be such commitments, roles and responsibilities to implement policies and procedures are not established. Training and communication, if any, are largely focused on occupational safety and health, job requirements, or food/product safety and quality. Risk assessment/management and internal monitoring mechanisms are likewise bereft of any focus on labor and human rights. Supply chain management is also severely wanting.
If there are any human rights due diligence (HRDD) efforts among seafood industry employers, these are largely the result of reacting to third-party social compliance audits or even reports from media or other stakeholders.
Corporate HRDD initiatives
In September 2022, the Japanese government promulgated the Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains. Uptick in supply chain management changes to respond to the Guidelines and other international drivers (e.g., HRDD legislation in Europe) have been noted in recent years, and DIWA has been engaged to support such efforts. DIWA has conducted human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) on Indonesian, Vietnamese and Thailand processing facilities and farms from which Japanese entities source raw materials. As a result, the seafood supplier-companies subjected to these HRIAs have started to adapt and modify their systems to account for labor and human rights, and social responsibility. Relevant capacity-building activities for these source companies have also been incorporated into Japanese companies' supplier engagement initiatives.
DIWA has also supported a few Japanese companies in developing their supplier monitoring programs, building on traceability efforts, and starting with enhancement of policies, establishment of risk management and monitoring tools. Next step will entail piloting of these tools.
Other similar HRDD and related activities have been initiated elsewhere in East Asia such as Taiwan, Thailand, and Philippines. In Taiwan and Thailand, there have been companies that have adopted the Employer Pays Principle (EPP), which includes the remediation of recruitment-related and forced labor issues in the sector, and accreditation and auditing of labor brokers.
These are only some of the corporate HRDD efforts conducted by stakeholders in the seafood sector in which DIWA has been involved since it started work in the seafood sector.
Some companies have also leveraged technology, using satellite tracking for traceability purposes to support these initiatives. Technology has been used as well to provide another channel for and to amplify workers' voices.
Seafood companies in the region have also been participating in multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the Seafood Taskforce and the Japan Responsible Seafood Roundtable, which was soft-launched during the TSSS 2025.
As a result of these various efforts, awareness of human rights standards and issues in the sector has steadily grown; companies have enhanced their visibility over supply chains with established or improved HRDD management systems; worker participation in social compliance has increased; and working and living conditions among participating companies and supplier facilities have been improved.
Casting a Wider Net
However, a lot more work need to be done. Past and ongoing HRDD and related initiatives are definitely laudable and should be recognized and supported. But if the experiences of migrant fishers (such as those shared by Achmed during the TSSS 2025) are to be changed for future generations of workers on vessels and in seafood processing plants and farms, and all other workers in the sector, then it is currently upon all stakeholders to go beyond current efforts, cast a much wider net and expand sustainability efforts especially in the area of human rights.
Governments, businesses, and other stakeholders must work together to create an enabling environment to not only further support existing corporate HRDD initiatives but to allow companies to thrive. Cross-border legal ecosystems must be reviewed to ensure that legal and regulatory requirements in sending and receiving countries are aligned and consistent; and workers' contracts are strengthened and protections enhanced ethical. Stakeholders must also push for the wider adoption of recruitment practices, including robust labor broker regulation and management. Workers must be involved and worker voice must be amplified in social compliance and due diligence initiatives.
Gatherings such as the TSSS must continue to highlight the importance of HRDD and social responsibility as key aspects of sustainability and continue to shine a light on the experiences of workers and migrant fishers, critical stakeholders in the seafood industry.
William G. Ragamat is the Senior Legal and Policy Advisor of Dignity in Work for All (DIWA).
For further information, please contact: William G. Ragamat at wragamat@dignityinwork.org . For DIWA's publicly available materials on the seafood industry in Southeast Asia, go to https://dignityinwork.org .