Systemic exploitation in global seafood supply chains: How structural labor abuses persist in Chinese distant-water fleets supplying UK/EU markets

Indigenous and traditional fishing communities in the Pacific and Southeast Asia have long documented the social-ecological harms of industrial distant-water fleets, including labor exploitation and resource depletion. Their oral histories and customary laws often emphasize reciprocity and stewardship, contrasting sharply with the extractive practices of globalized fisheries. However, these perspectives are systematically excluded from policy debates dominated by Western scientific and economic frameworks.

The modern distant-water fishing industry emerged from colonial-era maritime trade networks, where labor migration and resource extraction were intertwined with imperial power structures. The 19th-century indentured labor systems in the Pacific and Indian Ocean laid the groundwork for today's migrant fishery workers, who remain trapped in debt bondage and coercive contracts. The post-WWII expansion of industrial fishing, fueled by subsidies and overcapacity, further entrenched these patterns, with China's distant-water fleet growth in the 2000s accelerating the crisis.

Comparative studies of labor exploitation in fisheries reveal parallels across cultures, from the 'galley slaves' of medieval European fishing fleets to the contemporary Southeast Asian migrant workers in Thai and Chinese vessels. In Ghana, artisanal fishers displaced by industrial trawlers report similar health impacts—malnutrition, injuries, and psychological trauma—as those described by Abdul. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the 'sakada' system of overseas labor migration has created a diaspora of fisherfolk whose remittances sustain coastal communities but at the cost of generational displacement.

Scientific literature consistently links labor abuses in fisheries to structural factors: overcapacity driven by subsidies, weak port state control, and the lack of transparency in supply chains. Studies show that 90% of global fish stocks are fully exploited or overfished, creating a 'race to the bottom' where labor conditions deteriorate to maintain profitability. The ILO's Work in Fishing Convention (C188), ratified by only 20 countries, remains unenforced in most distant-water fleets due to jurisdictional gaps and corporate evasion.

Artistic and spiritual traditions often frame the sea as a living entity deserving of respect, contrasting with industrial fishing's commodification of marine life. In Polynesian cosmology, the ocean ('moana') is a sacred ancestor, while in Christian maritime traditions, the 'fishers of men' metaphor implies stewardship rather than extraction. These perspectives are absent in modern fisheries discourse, which treats the ocean as a resource to be optimized rather than a community to be sustained.

Future scenarios for global fisheries must account for the intersection of labor rights, climate change, and biodiversity loss. Models predict that by 2050, 60% of global fish stocks could collapse under current exploitation rates, exacerbating labor migration and exploitation as communities seek alternative livelihoods. Alternative futures include degrowth models in fisheries, where local co-management and fair labor practices reduce overfishing while improving worker conditions.

Migrant workers like Abdul are systematically silenced through coercive contracts, language barriers, and fear of deportation. Their testimonies are often mediated by NGOs or journalists, stripping them of agency in the narrative. Meanwhile, the families of deceased workers—often left in debt and poverty—are rarely compensated, as legal recourse is blocked by jurisdictional complexities and corporate shell games. Indigenous fishers displaced by industrial fleets also lack platforms to voice their grievances.