Washington (May 27, 2026) — In response to a California federal court ruling today that it will not order Bumble Bee Foods to change its practices as a result of a human trafficking case brought by Indonesian fishers, Sari Heidenreich, Senior Human Rights Advisor, Global Fisheries, Greenpeace USA, said: “The court still recognizes the fishers’ right to seek monetary damages in this case. The prospect of such damages can — and often does — compel companies to change their practices, even in the absence of court orders. This case has exposed serious labor risks behind some of the seafood on our supermarket shelves.”
“For a $350 billion global industry that relies on vulnerable workers, continuing to operate under these conditions is indefensible. The protections these fishermen sought are basic safeguards that responsible companies should already have in place. Companies should not need to wait for a lawsuit to protect the people whose labor makes their profits possible. Big Seafood must act now to ensure forced labor has no place in its supply chains.”
The Indonesian fishers allege in the complaint filed against Bumble Bee in March 2025 that they experienced forced labor conditions, ranging from physical violence, emotional abuse, untreated life-threatening and deformity-causing injuries, debt bondage, excessive working hours, lack of payment, and financial threats against family members to keep them from escaping their situation while working on vessels that were alleged to be part of Bumble Bee’s “trusted network” of suppliers.
This case, which survived Bumble Bee’s earlier motion to dismiss, is a significant advancement for the global movement advocating for fishers’ rights. It is one of only a few Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) supply chain cases to progress beyond the motion to dismiss stage. The milestone highlights momentum in demands for the fishing industry to protect workers and oceans. For example, in Taiwan, prosecutors have brought charges against a vessel captain and others for the death and trafficking of workers, and a civil case is challenging government-backed discrimination in the fisheries industry.
Heidenreich continued: “These cases hold a torch of hope that there will be justice for those who have suffered at the greedy hands of Big Seafood. They represent something Big Seafood would rather not acknowledge: that people, in fact, do hold the power to change the industry. That people do, in fact, come before profits.”
The Greenpeace Beyond Seafood Campaign, in which several organizations from the Greenpeace global network participate, has called for concerted action by all stakeholders and governments along the seafood supply chain to end isolation at sea, an underlying problem that enables abuse and pillaging of oceans. Investigations and supply chain research from Greenpeace fisheries campaigns were used by the litigants’ attorneys to support this complaint.
The lawsuit, Akhmad v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC, No. 3:25-cv-00583, filed in March 2025 in U.S. federal court in San Diego, California, is currently before chief judge Cynthia Bashant. In addition to Greenpeace Inc., the plaintiffs in the suit are represented by the law firms of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes LLP.
Photos are available in the Greenpeace Media Library
Contacts:
Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, [email protected]
Greenpeace USA Press Desk: [email protected]
Greenpeace USA (Inc.) is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.
