Here's some images from a recent overnight shoot aboard a fishing trawler in the Gulf of Thailand for The Freedom Fund, the world's first private donor fund dedicated to identifying and investing in the most effective front-line efforts to end slavery. Thailand
is the world’s third largest seafood exporter, reaping over $7 billion in
revenues a year. But the profitable industry supplying Americans and Europeans
with cheap seafood comes at a high cost to both the environment and to hundreds
of thousands of migrant workers. Overfishing and illegal and
unregulated fishing has led to the depletion of resources pushing fishing
efforts further off-shore and
compromising the sustainability of environmental resources. The increased
effort for reduced catch as a result of overfishing drives up
costs, incentivising the use of forced labour.
The
fishing and seafood labour force in Thailand is by a large majority composed of
migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Labour brokers recruit from
vulnerable communities, promising favourable employment in the construction,
manufacturing, or agriculture industries. Migrants often incur debt from labour
brokers, costs associated with transportation and securing
employment in Thailand. This ‘debt’ is often transferred by labour brokers to
owners of seafood processing factories or fishing boats, resulting in bonded
labour.
