NGO Report: Indian Farmed Shrimp Produced With Forced Labor

Shrimp farmed and processed in India is frequently produced by forced labor, with workers in debt bondage and some workers living in employer-supplied housing where they are rarely allowed to leave, according to a new investigation from Corporate Accountability Lab.

Shrimp is the most consumed seafood product in America, and 40% of shrimp is imported from India.

The report recommended that:

• the Labor Department add Indian shrimp to its list of goods produced with child or forced labor.
• the ban on goods made with forced labor be enforced for this product.
• shrimp importers should be required to trace their supply chains and make that information publicly available pursuant to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Seafood Import Monitoring Program.
• information sharing be improved between CBP and NOAA to more effectively enforce both SIMP and the ban on goods made with forced labor.

Over several years, Corporate Accountability Lab investigators interviewed more than 150 shrimp workers in India. The workers interviewed were both at small farms and peeling sheds, "as well as by large Indian and multinational exporters, including Apex Frozen Foods, Avanti Feeds Limited, Devi Fisheries Limited, Nekkanti Sea Foods, and Sandhya Aqua."

The group noted that migrant workers, who are often brought to the industry through recruitment loans, are most at risk of forced labor. Debt bondage is an indicator of forced labor under International Labor Organization standards.

"CAL’s investigations revealed that the highest risk of forced labor in the Indian farmed shrimp supply chain is in the processing sector, in both peeling sheds and processing plants," the report said. Local workers and those who don't live in company housing are less likely to be subject to forced labor, it said.

The report quoted a manager at Nekkanti Sea Foods who said: “Recruitment agencies employed by us bring migrant workers from Odisha and West Bengal. They look for workers in rural areas who need money desperately. These recruitment agency agents will provide the money to the workers and bring them to our company on the condition that they will be allowed to leave only after the loan and interest are cleared.”

It also quoted a worker at Devi Fisheries Limited who said migrants paid more than $1,200 to a recruiter. The report said "a human resources manager at Devi Fisheries Limited described a variation of the manipulation of vulnerable populations through loans: 'The middlemen give loans to the workers. But they don’t give it to one person. They form a group of workers and give the loan so that if one makes a default, others will become responsible to repay the loan.'"

While debt bondage is more frequent at processors, the report said, it also exists at shrimp farms. "There are additional reports of migrant workers taking loans and agreeing to work on a shrimp farm for a season, usually three or four months. If the worker tries to leave before the season has finished, in some cases the worker has been threatened and not allowed to leave," the report said.

At hatcheries, if workers live in company housing, their movements are restricted, the report said. "To leave the premises -- even to go to a neighboring store -- workers must often receive consent from their supervisors. This significant restriction of movement that hatcheries exert over their workforce, coupled with abusive living and working conditions, excessive overtime, and abuse of vulnerability, is indicative of forced labor."

The report noted that many grocery stores that stock frozen shrimp from these exporters have codes of conduct that bar the use of forced labor. And it said there are two certification standards, Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), which say producers complied with labor laws. "BAP and ASC function, as a practical matter, as little more than marketing ploys that fail to protect workers or the environment," the report alleged.

The report said Indian market share rose after Thai shrimp farms had repeated findings of forced labor. "When Thai labor practices improved and helped to drive up prices for Thai shrimp, U.S. importers quickly shifted to Indian shrimp due to its lower prices and abundant supply," the report said. It added: "The conditions found in the Indian shrimp sector are not inevitable but instead result from cost-cutting and downward pricing pressure by U.S. supermarkets, restaurants, and wholesalers that 'squeeze' producers to provide ever-cheaper shrimp."

The Southern Shrimp Alliance, which represents shrimpers in the U.S., hailed the report on March 20. "The Southern Shrimp Alliance commends the incredible work of Corporate Accountability Lab and we are all in awe of the bravery of the men and women willing to investigate and report on the horrors within India’s shrimp industry,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “All throughout the coast of this country, shrimp boats are tied up and not working due to the cheap, imported shrimp that has overwhelmed our market."