NOAA Says Forced Labor in Chinese, Taiwanese Tuna, Criticizes Illegal Fishing in Mexico

China exports squid and tuna to the U.S. from its distant water fishing fleet, which "is characterized by numerous reported incidents of forced labor. The majority of the crew on board the vessels in this fleet are migrant workers from Indonesia and the Philippines, who are particularly vulnerable to forced labor," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wrote in a report to Congress sent last week. This was the first time that the report on illegal fishing, which comes out every two years, covered forced labor.

The report also said that Taiwan's distant water fishing fleet, which also employs migrant workers from Indonesia and the Philippines, has had a number of reports of forced labor. In both fleets, the report said, "While on board the vessels, workers’ identity documents are often confiscated, the crew sometimes spends months at sea without stopping at a port of call, and they are forced to work 18 to 22 hours a day with little rest. Workers face hunger and dehydration, live in degrading and unhygienic conditions, are subjected to physical violence and verbal abuse, are prevented from leaving the vessel or ending their contracts, and are frequently not paid their promised wages." Debt bondage after migrants pay recruitment fees is also pervasive, the report said. "Globally, a large portion of fishermen in distant water fleets and major markets are migrants who are vulnerable to labor abuses due to isolated conditions, limited access to legal and administrative systems or other forms of support, unfamiliarity with local languages, and a lack of information about their working conditions and rights."

Taiwan exports tuna to the U.S. caught by its distant water fishing fleet. The National Marine Fisheries Service, an office within NOAA, said it "recognizes that Taiwan has already taken several actions to improve its regulatory framework, as well as enforcement and prosecution relating to distant water vessels with known incidents of forced labor."

The office works with CBP to identify forced labor aboard fishing vessels, and thereby stop the import of their catches, the report noted. The office joined with the State Department and Labor Department in 2021 to create a sub-working group on labor in the seafood supply chain.

The report said forced labor isn't just a human rights violation. Inhumane working conditions "also contribute to destabilization of maritime security and supply chains, and create circumstances that lead to the depletion of fish stocks and degradation of marine ecosystems. These labor abuses undermine U.S. economic competitiveness, national security, fishery sustainability, and the livelihoods and human rights of fishers around the world."

The Southern Shrimp Alliance hailed the inclusion of forced labor in this eighth report on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

"NOAA’s report also, once again, identified Mexico as engaging in IUU fishing, as it had done the prior four reports issued (2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021)," the alliance said Sept. 5. It noted that Mexican fishing vessels were denied entry to U.S. ports in February 2022, after a negative certification.

The alliance complained that Mexican fishing vessels are illegally fishing in U.S. waters, and that they target red snapper, which is subject to a stock rebuilding plan. Shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico are "held strictly accountable for ... bycatch of juvenile red snapper as part of the NOAA rebuilding plan for this stock. These lanchas [fishing vessels] employ fishing gear that severely endanger vulnerable populations of sea turtles and marine mammals for which the U.S. shrimp fisheries are also held strictly accountable pursuant to the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. To the extent that the status of these red snapper, sea turtle, or marine mammal populations are adversely impacted by this illegal fishing by Mexico's lanchas, the U.S. shrimp fisheries will pay the price through increased regulations needed to offset those impacts. In result, the continuing, increasing, and blatant violations of U.S. law by lanchas pose direct threats to American commercial fisheries including the U.S. shrimp fisheries."

The group complained that there are minimal consequences for Mexican fishing vessels caught in U.S. waters, and NOAA's response is ineffective. The alliance said trade restrictions on Mexican imports could get results, since Mexico exports $630 million worth of seafood to the U.S., and gave the example of the State Department's prohibition in 2021 on wild shrimp from Mexico. It said that "led to substantial improvements in the industry’s protection of sea turtles."

“For as long as NOAA and the Endangered Species Act have been around, American fishermen know what happens if we’re found to be harming sea turtles or marine mammals. We are shut down. Out of business,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Shrimpers cannot understand, or accept, that if a foreigner is doing it, NOAA asks them five times ‘pretty please’ to stop. It has been a decade. Shut it down.”