Slavery taints global supply of seafood

BENJINA, Indonesia — The Burmese slaves sat on the floor and stared through the rusty bars of their locked cage, hidden on a tropical island thousands of miles from home. A few yards away, other workers loaded cargo ships with slave-caught seafood that clouds the supply networks of supermarkets, restaurants and pet stores in the United States.

In the Indonesian island village of Benjina and the surrounding waters, hundreds of trapped men represent one of the most desperate links between companies and countries in the seafood industry.

The intricate web of connections separates the fish we eat from the men who catch it and obscures a brutal truth: Your seafood might come from slaves.

The men The Associated Press spoke to on Benjina were mostly from Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in the world. They were brought to Indonesia through Thailand and forced to fish. Their catch was shipped back to Thailand, where it entered the commerce stream.

Tainted fish can wind up in the supply chains of some of America’s major grocery stores, such as Kroger, the parent company of King Soopers; Albertsons; Safeway; the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart; and the biggest food distributor, Sysco.

It can find its way into some of the most popular brands of canned pet food, including Fancy Feast, Meow Mix and Iams. It can turn up as calamari at fine dining restaurants, as imitation crab in a California sushi roll or as packages of frozen snapper relabeled with store brands.

In a year-long investigation, the AP interviewed more than 40 current and former slaves in Benjina. Some fishermen, risking their lives, begged for help.

“I want to go home. We all do,” one slave called out over the side of his boat, a cry repeated by many men. “Our parents haven’t heard from us for a long time, I’m sure they think we are dead.”

Their catch mixes in with other fish in Thailand. U.S. Customs records show that several of those Thai processing plants ship to America. They also ship to Europe and Asia, but the AP traced shipments to the U.S., where trade records are public.

The major corporations identified by AP declined interviews but issued statements that condemned labor abuses. National Fisheries Institute spokesman Gavin Gibbons, speaking on behalf of 300 U.S. seafood firms that make up 75 percent of the industry, said his members are troubled by the findings.

The slaves interviewed by the AP described 20- to 22-hour shifts and unclean drinking water. Almost all said they were kicked, beaten or whipped with toxic stingray tails if they complained or tried to rest. They were paid little or nothing.

Runaway Hlaing Min said many died at sea.

“If Americans and Europeans are eating this fish, they should remember us. There must be a mountain of bones under the sea,” he said. “The bones of the people could be an island, it’s that many.”

The harbor in the village is occupied by Pusaka Benjina Resources, whose five-story office compound includes the cage with the slaves. The company is the only fishing operation on Benjina officially registered in Indonesia.

Pusaka Benjina did not respond to phone calls and a letter and did not speak to a reporter who waited for two hours in the company’s Jakarta office.

At the Benjina port, the AP interviewed slaves from a dozen fishing vessels offloading their catch into a large refrigerated cargo ship, the Silver Sea Line. The ship belonged to the Silver Sea Reefer Co., which is registered in Thailand and has at least nine refrigerated cargo boats. The company said it is not involved with the fishermen.

“We only carry the shipment, and we are hired in general by clients,” said company owner Panya Luangsomboon.

The AP followed that ship, using satellite tracking over 15 days to Samut Sakhon, Thailand. Journalists watched as workers packed the seafood over four nights onto more than 150 trucks for delivery to factories around the city.

Inside those plants, representatives said they sold seafood to other Thai processors and distributors. U.S. Customs bills of lading identify shipments from those plants to American companies.

For example, one truck bore the name and bird logo of Kingfisher Holdings Ltd., which supplies frozen and canned seafood around the world. Another truck went to Mahachai Marine Foods Co., a cold storage business that also supplies Kingfisher, said Kawin Ngernanek, whose family runs it.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” said Kawin. “Kingfisher buys several types of products.”

When later asked about abusive labor practices, Kawin was not available. Instead, Mahachai Marine Foods manager Narongdet Prasertsri responded: “I have no idea about it at all.” Kingfisher did not answer requests for comment.

Every month, Kingfisher and its subsidiary KF Foods Ltd. sends about 100 metric tons of seafood to America, according to U.S. Customs records. These shipments have gone to Stavis Seafoods, a Boston-based Sysco supplier, and other distributors.

Indonesian Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who has cracked down on illegal foreign vessels, including those from Thailand, vowed to take action.

She tweeted the AP’s report and distributed copies of it in a meeting of high-ranking government officials. “I’m not going to tolerate such a thing to continue happening in our waters,” she said.