Seafood caught by slave fishermen is ending
up in supermarkets, restaurants and pet shops across America, an investigation
has found, according to The Mail Online.
Burmese men are being kept in cages on a
tiny Indonesian island and forced to fish - or risk being kicked, beaten and
whipped with stingray tails.
Seafood caught by the slaves is entering
major supply networks in the US with tainted produce appearing in sushi, canned
pet food and bags of frozen fish, it is claimed.
"I want to go home. We all do."
|
It claims tainted fish can wind up in the
supply chains of some of America's major grocery stores, such as Kroger,
Albertsons and Safeway; the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart; and the
biggest food distributor, Sysco.
It can also find its way into the supply
chains of some of the most popular brands of canned pet food, including Fancy
Feast, Meow Mix and Iams.
There are also suggestions it can turn up
as calamari at fine dining restaurants, as imitation crab in a California sushi
roll or as packages of frozen snapper relabeled with store brands that land on
dinner tables.
In a year-long investigation, the AP interviewed
more than 40 current and former slaves in Benjina.
It charted the journey of a single large
shipment of slave-caught seafood from the Indonesian village, including squid,
snapper, grouper and shrimp, and tracked it by satellite to a Thai harbor.
The Indonesian Village of Benjina |
Some fishermen, risking their lives, begged
reporters for help.
"I want to go home. We all do," one Burmese
slave called out over the side of his boat, a cry repeated by many men.
"Our parents haven't heard from us for a
long time, I'm sure they think we are dead."
Their catch mixes in with other fish at
numerous sites in Thailand, including processing plants. US Customs records
show that several of those Thai factories ship to America.
They also ship to Europe and Asia, but the
Associated Press traced shipments to the US, where trade records are public.
Stingray tails have long been used to make vicious whips |
National Fisheries Institute spokesman
Gavin Gibbons, speaking on behalf of 300 US seafood firms that make up 75
percent of the industry, said his members are troubled by the findings.
“It's not only disturbing, it's
disheartening because our companies have zero tolerance for labor abuses,” he
said.
“These type of things flourish in the
shadows.”
The slaves interviewed by the AP described
20 to 22-hour shifts and unclean drinking water.
Almost all said they were kicked, beaten or
whipped with toxic stingray tails if they complained or tried to rest. They
were paid little or nothing.
Read more, watch the video and see the pictures HERE.
The Aquaculturists
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