Justice on the high seas—fishers pursue trafficking suit against Bumble Bee

Conned by promises of good wages and working conditions, four Indonesian fishermen who found themselves in predatory contracts living under modern slavery are breaking new legal ground. The fishers are pursuing justice through the courts in a lawsuit claiming Bumble Bee Foods failed to stop human rights abuses suffered onboard the company’s contracted fishing ships, reports Corporate Accountability Lab. Abuses the suit says put the seafood company in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPRA) in the first human trafficking case brought against a US seafood company for forced labor at sea.  

Lured onboard, set up to fail and no way out 

The four survivors in the case all come from rural areas across Indonesia. They were recruited by false promises of a living wage and decent working conditions. But the paltry wages they were actually paid didn’t account for the hefty recruitment fees they were charged. Even worse, once they signed the contracts, they were not allowed to quit without owing hefty fines. Fines they could never afford to pay, trapping them in debt bondage. And things just got worse from there. 

One of the fishermen in the case said: 

“…a load of fish was dropped on his leg, slicing it from mid-shin to thigh. As blood filled his boot and the worker realized he could see his own bone…the captain ordered him to keep working.” 

Other complaints include being beaten by the captains, slapped, hit with metal hooks, whipped and stabbed with needles. Punishments included being starved and forced to eat bait to survive. Despite asking, most workers were not allowed to leave. Instead, ships practiced transshipment, a common sign of slavery at sea. Transshipment means ships stay out at sea for long periods of time by transferring catch from one vessel to another.  

Nikki Santos, a Legal Fellow with Corporate Accountability Lab stated: 

“Transshipment allows vessels with terrible working conditions and illegally caught seafood to remain at sea for months, obscuring their illegal activities and facilitating the abuse of crew members.”  

Santos points out, this practice allows the abuse taking place on these unscrupulous fishing ships to go undetected. It also makes it almost impossible for workers to escape or seek refuge.   

The lawsuit a first, but slavery at sea has a long history 

The Bumble Bee lawsuit is making history as the first human trafficking case brought against a US fishing company. But sadly, it is far from the first time a boatload of evidence points to human rights abuse on fishing vessels. The prevalence of forced labor at sea is so high some call it endemic to the industry. Since 2007 when seafood was first included in the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), the US government has been attempting to scrub forced labor out of the fishing industry.  

Speaking about the history of abuse in the fishing industry Santos stated: 

“Due to the difficulties of documenting labor violations at sea, the vulnerability of recruited migrants and impoverished workers, deceptive recruiting tactics, and a culture of impunity, there is a long history of human rights abuses at sea.” 

And it’s also not Bumble Bee’s first time in the forced labor spotlight. Bumble Bee was linked to forced labor on fishing vessels in 2020 and 2023. Yet despite all the evidence, Bumble Bee and others have taken little meaningful action to mitigate the risks of forced labor at sea. Many are relying on a “faulty” and “flawed” third-party certification scheme, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Advocates say MSC has little real impact on working conditions. Freedom United stands beside advocates demanding that the fishing industry stop relying on ineffective and corruptible accountability tools and hold seafood companies accountable for ending slavery at sea.  

Learn more about our work to end slavery at sea here.