Protect human rights
What’s the issue? Seafood sustainability isn't just about the environmental impacts of wild fisheries and aquaculture. It's also about ensuring fair, safe working conditions for the people who produce our seafood.
Understanding the issue
Sadly, labor abuses in the seafood industry are not uncommon. Tackling the issue in the fishing industry is especially challenging. There is a high demand for cheap labor and it is common for vessels to take trips on the high seas for multiple months or even years, beyond the jurisdiction of national governments and out of reach of law enforcement.
What Seafood Watch is doing
Together with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, Liberty Shared, and human rights experts, we developed the Seafood Social Risk Tool. This tool profiles seafood production systems around the world and identifies areas within those systems that are at higher risk of containing forced labor, human trafficking, and hazardous child labor. Businesses can use these risk profiles to take the first steps toward improving human rights and labor conditions.
Our Social Sustainability Advisory Group is working with us to explore other ways to promote a human rights-based approach to sustainability.
Resources
Explore more organizations protecting human rights in the seafood industry
- Environmental Justice Foundation
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is a UK-based nonprofit organization working internationally to protect the environment and defend human rights. - Fair Trade USA
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Fair Trade USA is the leading third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. Fair Trade USA is adapting its certification process to apply to fisheries in the global South. - FishWise
FishWise is a nonprofit conservation organization that promotes the health and recovery of ocean ecosystems by providing innovative market-based tools to the seafood industry. In 2014, FishWise released a comprehensive white paper on human rights issues in the seafood industry. - Humanity United
Humanity United is a foundation committed to building peace and advancing human freedom. Humanity United leads and supports efforts to lift up the voices and will of people, ensure good governance and the rule of law, and engage markets and businesses as a force for change. - International Labor Organization
The International Labor Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). The ILO is devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights, pursuing its founding mission that labor peace is essential to prosperity. - Solidaridad Network
Solidaridad is an international organization dedicated to responsible food production to feed the growing world population and to provide the world with an alternative to fossil fuels like oil and gas. - Sustainability Incubator
The Sustainability Incubator helps companies to address social and environmental issues in sourcing seafood. Its Labor Safe Screen program scans for risks of forced labor and identifies human rights conditions in seafood supply chains. - Verité
Verité is a U.S.-based nonprofit consulting, training, research and advocacy organization that works around the world with companies, workers and other stakeholders to improve supply chain labor conditions across all sectors of the global economy, including seafood.
Discover more sustainable solutions
Animals & the ocean
Avoid overfishing
Overfishing puts pressure on ocean ecosystems, but science-based solutions can help protect fish populations.
Read more – Avoid overfishing
Animals & the ocean
Consider climate
It takes a lot of fuel to grow, package, and transport food, which contributes to climate change.
Read more – Consider climate
Animals & the ocean
Improve traceability
By tracking seafood through the supply chain, consumers can verify its environmental and social impact.
Read more – Improve traceability
Animals & the ocean
Limit bycatch
Bycatch—when non-target marine life is caught in fishing gear—harms ocean wildlife, but solutions exist.
Read more – Limit bycatch