(EJF) COMBATING SEAFOOD SLAVERY

Our fish stocks and marine bio­di­ver­si­ty are in cri­sis. Rapid indus­tri­al­i­sa­tion and poor fish­eries man­age­ment have meant that too many ves­sels, using destruc­tive and and unsus­tain­able fish­ing meth­ods, have been catch­ing far too many fish. With fish stocks exhaust­ed, glob­al demand at an all-time high, ves­sels are now going fur­ther afield — often fish­ing ille­gal­ly in oth­er nations’ ter­ri­to­ries — and stay­ing longer at sea, to bring back ever-dimin­ish­ing catch­es. This is open­ing the door to a wave of traf­ficked work­ers forced into slave labour to crew ves­sels, reduce com­pa­nies’ costs, and sup­ply a glob­al seafood mar­ket with cheap, slav­ery con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed, fish products.