Tuna is a $22 billion industry across the Pacific Ocean, where over 60% of the world’s supply originates. That much is known. Look much farther, though, and the subject becomes quite murky.
Try finding out about the treatment of workers aboard fishing vessels, as the corporate watchdog Business & Human Rights Resource Centre did at the end of 2018. Unsurprisingly, companies were tight lipped in their responses. Out of 35 canned tuna companies and supermarkets surveyed, only four reported following due diligence procedures to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains. 20 companies, including tuna giant StarKist, refused to even respond.
There are strong reasons for the tuna companies’ silence; slavery runs rampant throughout the industry. Incredibly low oversight has allowed for the rise of third-party recruitment agencies, who often find willing employees in less developed nations. These workers, desperate for money, pay thousands of dollars to brokers who connect them with fishing vessels – for a price.
The price is high. When workers cannot pay their allotted amount, recruiters cover the costs by removing the loaned money from future wages. What fishermen are not told is that their wages are often as low as 70 cents an hour, if they are paid at all.