Ghost Fleet

The fight against modern slavery in the fishing industry Some of the seafood we eat—sushi, frozen fish, crab cocktails, and the vast quantities processed into animal feed—has been caught by slaves. Thailand is a major exporter of seafood and has a huge fishing fleet. But decades of overfishing have decimated stocks in the region. Now, fishermen have to travel thousands of miles to fill their nets. To compensate for the attrition of workers, human traffickers sell men from impoverished countries such as Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia to fishing companies, condemning them to slavery. Alarming: on average, 7 out of 10 fishermen in Thailand show symptoms of forced labor! Activists such as Patima Tungpuchayakul from the Labor Protection Network (LPN) and her team are on a mission to free the trapped men and return them to their homes.