Sustainability certification by Marine Stewardship Council may be obscuring labour abuses in seafood supply chains, say researchers
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which operates a “blue tick” scheme to indicate the sustainability of fish, has been accused of creating an “illusion” of ethical sourcing, after a study reported that widespread labour abuses have taken place on the fishing vessels it approves.
One in five vessels where the crew reported abuses to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) over the last five years took place on ships catching seafood certified as sustainable by the MSC, researchers found.
Ten of these cases involved allegations of serious crimes, according to the study. These include forced labour, human trafficking and forced criminalisation.
In all, researchers identified 80 cases of labour abuses onboard 72 vessels in 25 MSC-certified fisheries across the globe, from North Sea haddock fisheries in Scotland to tuna fisheries in the Pacific islands.
