Fishing with forced labour
Tuna caught by modern-day slaves in the Pacific Ocean is ‘‘almost certainly’’ landing in New Zealand, an academic who studies the global fishing industry says.
‘‘It’s close to a 100 per cent chance,’’ says Dr Glenn Simmons of Auckland University. ‘‘It’s almost certain that we have eaten fish caught by crew under conditions of forced labour.’’ Simmons spoke with Stuff Circuit for an investigation into the tuna supply chain, including whether fish caught by slaves ends up in New Zealand.
While there was clarity around where most fresh tuna comes from, some parts of the supply chain proved impossible to trace, and mystery surrounds more than 450,000 kilograms of frozen tuna imported for pet food from Fiji over the past decade.
Private investigator Tim Mckinnel has spent the past two years making inquiries into the fishing industry for Greenpeace.
He says the difficulty of ‘‘unwinding the supply chains’’ damages the whole industry.
‘‘There are some ethical, sustainable operators out there,’’ says Mckinnel. ‘‘We need to know who they are and we need to be able to find out who the baddies are.’’
Greenpeace will this week release a major report into human rights and labour abuses at sea, particularly within the Taiwanese fleet. The report, Misery at Sea, includes revelations about an Indonesian fisherman, Supriyanto, who died on a Taiwanese boat in the Pacific after being beaten. His death was filmed by fellow crew, and footage of Supriyanto features in the Stuff
Circuit video investigation, Caught. Greenpeace’s report also details the plight of six fishermen
who say they suffered labour abuses before turning on their captain and killing him. They are now imprisoned in Vanuatu, where Stuff Circuit visited them.
‘‘My heart is broken,’’ one of them, Andi Riyadi, says.
The Taiwanese Fisheries Agency says it has taken steps to improve the tuna fleet and is ‘‘dedicated to enhancing the protection of rights and benefits of foreign crew members’’.
About 350,000kg of fresh, chilled and frozen tuna was imported to New Zealand last year. Two-thirds was fresh yellowfin from Fiji, where it is caught by locally-owned companies, some of which are in business with New Zealand companies, on locally-crewed boats fishing in Fiji waters. Campaigners believe these operations do not pose a risk of large-scale labour abuses.
Their focus is on the deepwater longline vessels which can spend years at sea, freezing their catch and off-loading to bigger refrigerated ships. Taiwanese ships are among those which offload frozen tuna in Fiji, and it is these catches which prove more difficult to trace.
An import declaration for frozen tuna may say it comes from Fiji, for instance, but that might not be where it was caught.
‘‘Customs does not know where the fish was caught, unless it is specifically stated on a catch document or invoice,’’ says a Customs spokesman.
The source of some frozen tuna is traceable. For example, about 30,000kg of frozen yellowfin came to New Zealand from Indonesia last year, according to Statistics NZ. The importer says it is caught in Indonesian waters under an audited programme.
The supply chain for some frozen tuna, though, is impossible to untangle – with even Customs in the dark and admitting errors.
Customs figures released under the Official Information Act showed 59,000kg of frozen albacore was imported from Fiji last year. But after Stuff Circuit queried the figures, Customs said the customs broker had made a mistake going back to 2007 and that it was, in fact, frozen, ground albacore meat. ‘‘Customs operates a self-assessment system, on the basis that importers are compliant, to enable imported goods to be processed quickly and efficiently,’’ says a spokesperson.
Eventually, it said more than 450,000kg of the frozen tuna product has entered New Zealand in the past decade, but it is for pet food. Customs admitted it had no idea where the fish was actually caught. ‘‘We have no access to the catch records,’’ says a spokesman.
‘‘It’s almost certain that we have eaten fish caught by crew under conditions of forced labour.’’ Dr Glenn Simmons of Auckland University