{"id":76706,"date":"2026-05-04T21:16:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/?p=76706"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:37:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:37:58","slug":"four-indonesian-fishers-take-on-tuna-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/four-indonesian-fishers-take-on-tuna-giant\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Indonesian fishers take on a U.S. tuna giant and offer hope for workers at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Fisher
Indonesian fishers have filed a suit in US court against Bumble Bee Foods under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) alleging that they experienced human trafficking and forced labor as they caught tuna that was sold by Bumble Bee in the U.S. This individual is plaintiff in the case.<\/em>
\u00a9 Ulet \u00a0Ifansasti \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

When Akhmad<\/a> felt liquid pooling in his boot, he thought seawater was leaking in. He later realized it was his own blood.<\/p>\n\n

Muhammad Syafi\u2019i alleges he suffered severe burns from hot oil while working as a cook aboard a distant-water fishing vessel and was denied medical treatment. <\/p>\n\n

Both men allege in a legal complaint that they were trapped at sea for months, forced to work excessive and exhausting hours under threats and isolation, with no safe way to leave. <\/p>\n\n

Their complaint outlines that the tuna they helped catch travelled through a complex global supply chain and ended up on supermarket shelves in the United States. <\/p>\n\n

In March 2025, Akhmad, Syafi\u2019i, and two other Indonesian fishers took a step that few workers in the abuse-ridden global fishing industry have ever been able to take: they filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court against one of the country’s largest tuna brands. The complaint alleges the U.S. company, Bumble Bee Foods, benefited from their forced labor aboard distant-water fishing vessels in its supply chain. <\/p>\n\n

Their case is a classic David-and-Goliath struggle \u2014 four workers from rural Indonesia challenging a multibillion-dollar industry. But it is also something more: a bid to transform how seafood is produced and traded so that protecting oceans goes hand in hand with protecting the people who depend on them. <\/p>\n\n

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Indonesian fishers who sued Bumble Bee, alleging years of forced labor while catching fish sold by the US tuna brand, responded to the company\u2019s motion to dismiss their suit, arguing in the U.S. legal filing on July 31 that they have a right to have their allegations heard in court. This image was taken by Greenpeace USA activists in solidarity with these fishers.<\/em>
\u00a9 Sandy Huffaker Jr. \/ Greenpea<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Why their voices matter<\/h2>\n\n

Industrial fishing often takes place thousands of miles from land, where oversight is minimal and help is out of reach. Workers in vulnerable positions, seeking the universal dream of a better life for themselves and their families, can instead find themselves isolated on vessels for months or even years. <\/p>\n\n

The experiences alleged by these four fishers reflect well-documented patterns across distant-water fleets worldwide: dangerous working conditions, withheld wages, physical abuse, and the inability to leave. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that at least <\/em>128,000 people<\/a> around the world work in conditions of forced labor aboard fishing boats.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI want justice \u2026 For myself, for my fate. And for my friends who are still out there,\u201d Muhammad Syafi\u2019i said when the case was filed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Akhmad hopes the lawsuit will spare others from the suffering described in his complaint. \u201cSo many men are out there right now, trapped in the same dangerous situation that I was,\u201d he said. \u201cThey deserve to work free from abuse.\u201c <\/p>\n\n

Their courage is extraordinary because it\u2019s dangerous to speak out. In an industry shaped by powerful global supply chains, fishers often enter these jobs burdened by recruitment debt and face threats to their own safety and that of their families if they resist. The risk of permanent blacklisting \u2014 from work that may be one of the few viable paths to a livable income in their communities \u2014 keeps many silent, allowing abuses to persist far from public view. Against those odds, their decision to come forward challenges a system that has long relied on workers\u2019 invisibility.<\/p>\n\n

Confronting a system that exploits workers and depletes oceans<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

According to the complaint, the men worked on distant-water fishing vessels that supplied tuna to Bumble Bee as part of its “trusted network\u201d of suppliers. Bumble Bee is a more than $1 billion U.S. company and the country\u2019s most popular brand of canned albacore tuna. It purchases a whopping 41,000 metric tons of albacore tuna every year \u2014 approximately 20% of this species that is pulled out of all of the world\u2019s oceans in a single year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

The vessels identified in the complaint used both transhipment at sea and longline fishing \u2014 practices that increase risks for workers while placing heavy pressure on marine ecosystems.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Through transhipment at sea, fishing vessels transfer their catch to refrigerated cargo ships while taking on fuel and supplies without returning to port, allowing them to remain at sea for months or even years. For crews, this often means prolonged isolation without inspections, medical care, or meaningful contact with the world beyond their ship. Limited or nonexistent internet access further cuts workers off from family members, unions, and government authorities, making it difficult to report abuse or leave unsafe conditions.<\/p>\n\n

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A tuna is hauled on deck of the Lu Rong Yuan Lu 212 longline vessel in the South Pacific Ocean.
<\/em>
The Rainbow Warrior is in the South Pacific Ocean to expose longline fishing and call on governments to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and create a network of protected areas in the High Seas.<\/em>
\u00a9 Paul Hilton \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

As fish stocks close to shore have been depleted, industrial fleets have pushed farther out to sea and remain at sea for longer periods to maintain high catch volumes and profitability. Longline fishing, deploying lines that can stretch for up to 50 miles and carrying thousands of baited hooks, targets tuna but also ensnares sharks, sea turtles, seabirds, and other marine wildlife in large numbers, accelerating the decline of ocean biodiversity.  <\/p>\n\n

Together, these dynamics form a reinforcing downward spiral: declining fish stocks push fleets farther out to sea; transhipment enables continuous operations with limited oversight; and prolonged isolation increases the risk of worker exploitation, while intensifying pressure on marine ecosystems. In this business model, environmental harm and human rights abuses are not separate problems \u2014 they enable and reinforce each other through a lack of transparency at sea. <\/p>\n\n

A hard-won step toward accountability<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

The lawsuit was filed under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), a U.S. law with strong bipartisan support, that allows survivors to sue U.S. persons and corporations that knowingly benefit from forced labor, even when the abuse occurs overseas.<\/p>\n\n

In our increasingly globalized world, where almost everything in our homes has passed through multiple countries before arriving in our hands and where nearly 17.3 million people are in forced labor in the private sector<\/a>, these provisions are a path towards justice for workers who make our clothes, grow our food, and catch our fish. <\/p>\n\n

TVPRA Supply Chain Cases<\/strong>

Since 2008, this law has been used by workers who allege they were subject to forced labor producing disposable gloves in Malaysia, mining cobalt for cellphone batteries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and processing shrimp at a factory in Thailand.\u00a0

Major Developments in the Bumble Bee Case\u00a0<\/strong>