Human rights in the fishing industry: what are the pressing risks?

Over 60 million people make a living catching, farming and processing seafood. What are the predominant challenges they face?

IHRB’s Francesca Fairbairn explores human rights abuses in the global seafood industry with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ian Urbina, who has just released the second series of The Outlaw Ocean Podcast.   

Over four years carrying out extensive field work, Ian’s investigations document state-sponsored forced labour on board Chinese fishing vessels and in fish processing factories in China, and report on a whistle-blower’s exposure of human rights violations in a shrimp processing factory in India.  

Francesca and Ian discuss the responsibilities of companies with fish or seafood in their supply chains, and the desperate need for stronger regulations to protect seafood workers across the world. 

Ian set up The Outlaw Ocean Project in 2019, a non-profit journalism organisation that produces investigative stories about human rights, labour, and environmental concerns on the world’s oceans.

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Producer & Editor: Helen Brown
Additional Contributors: Sam Simmons, IHRB's Head of Communications