{"id":68296,"date":"2026-03-03T11:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T04:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/southeastasia\/?p=68296"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:42:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:42:47","slug":"alleged-forced-labor-iuu-fishing-indications-on-indonesian-vessels-behind-australian-tuna-brands-greenpeace-southeast-asia-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/southeastasia\/press\/68296\/alleged-forced-labor-iuu-fishing-indications-on-indonesian-vessels-behind-australian-tuna-brands-greenpeace-southeast-asia-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged forced labor, IUU fishing Indications on Indonesian vessels behind Australian tuna brands: Greenpeace Southeast Asia report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Canberra, Australia, March 3, 2026<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 Twenty five (25) Indonesian fishing boat crew \u2014 onboard 17 Indonesian tuna fishing vessels and allegedly involving five Indonesian seafood companies that supply their tuna products to the Australian market \u2014 reported to have experienced forced labour. These indications were analysed in a new report by Greenpeace Southeast Asia in collaboration with Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania. Among the 11 International Labour Organisation\u2019s (ILO) forced labour indicators analyzed, the crew most frequently encountered abuse of vulnerability (56%), debt bondage (56%), and deception (40%). [1]<\/p>\n\n

The report, \u201cForced to the Bottom: Squeezing Indonesian Fishers and Oceans for Dirty Tuna Profits\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, looked at Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) vessel lists and found that the 17 fishing vessels suspected to supply five processing companies in Indonesia, namely PT Aneka Tuna Indonesia, PT Samudera Mandiri Sentosa, PT Sinar Pure Food International, PT Pahala Bahari Nusantara, and PT Intimas Surya. Trade analysis suggests that these companies export to 10 Australian seafood companies, including brands such as Sirena, Safcol, and JFC Australia.<\/p>\n\n

The alleged indications of forced labour were found throughout all employment stages. Based on the fishers or crew members\u2019 testimonies, employment brokers (calo<\/em>) lured them with promises of big salaries and flexible advance loans upon recruitment. But then the calo<\/em> charged illegal fees and withheld the fishers\u2019 identification documents and personal belongings, to assert their total control towards the fishers. At sea, fishers reported excessive working hours \u2014 up to 21 hours a day, often without proper rest, pay, or access to communication. Some of them were out at sea for 10\u201318 months without a port visit. Salary was paid at the end of each trip, with profit-sharing schemes that are unjustly designed to suppress the fishers\u2019 income.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe testimony of the crew on Indonesian tuna fishing boats is a clear signal that the Australian Government needs to require businesses importing goods from high-risk sectors to have to properly check that modern slavery is not being used in the production of the goods. The vast majority of Australians want to be sure the goods they are buying have not involved suffering and exploitation of the people involved in producing them,\u201d said Mark Zirnsak, Senior Social Justice Advocate\u200b for Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania.<\/p>\n\n

The indications of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing practices were also found. Companies allegedly push fishing vessels and crew to engage in banned practices, such as shark finning and deploying illegal fish aggregating devices (FADs). The link between labour abuses and environmental crimes underscores an extractive system that externalizes human and ecological costs to sustain profit margins.<\/p>\n\n

Arifsyah Nasution, Senior Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe governments and industries across the markets and supply chains must be accountable to ensure the seafood harvested ethically and sustainably. The progressive and actionable commitments for transparency and accountability needed to tackle both IUU and the modern slavery practices in the global seafood value chains. No place for seafood sourced from unethical and unsustainable practices on consumers\u2019 dining tables,\u201d said.<\/p>\n\n

Elle Lawless, Senior Ocean Campaigner, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIndustrial fishing abuses human rights at sea while simultaneously stripping life from our oceans, pushing marine wildlife toward collapse. Destructive industrial fishing, like longlining and bottom trawling, continues to pillage, destroy and industrialise the ocean.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

The Australian Government is on the cusp of ratifying the Global Ocean Treaty, allowing governments to create high seas ocean sanctuaries free from industrial fishing. High-quality ocean sanctuaries are good for the ocean and good for people. Governments must work together to protect the high seas, and make sure industrial fishing is not allowed within protected areas. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cForced to the Bottom: Squeezing Indonesian Fishers and Oceans for Dirty Tuna Profits\u201d is Greenpeace Southeast Asia\u2019s first report that brings to light the direct link between alleged indications of forced labour and IUU fishing practices in the Indonesian fishing industry and the Australian tuna market.<\/p>\n\n

The Greenpeace global network\u2019s Beyond Seafood Campaign has called for concerted action by all stakeholders and governments along the seafood supply chain to end isolation at sea. This includes:<\/p>\n\n