New tool launched to help combat slavery in the seafood industry
A new tool unveiled here on the Central Coast hopes to end slavery in the seafood industry by highlighting problem areas.
It’s called the Seafood Slavery Risk Tool and the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program says it’s something businesses have been asking for.
The program typically specializes in environmental issues in fisheries and fish farms, but they say sustainability will require improving not just environmental issues but social ones too.
Most of us know that a lot goes into getting seafood on your plate, but experts say there’s a dark side to the seafood industry that many don’t know about.
“The seafood industry is rife for slavery and human rights abuses,” said Ryan Bigelow, program engagement manager with the Seafood Watch Program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
That’s why the program just unveiled a new tool Thursday.
“Companies for the most part don’t want to publicly talk about seafood slavery or slavery of any kind that might be in your supply chains but the fact of the matter is they’re very concerned about it,” Bigelow said.
The Seafood Slavery Risk Tool can give companies all of the information they need to make an educated purchase.
“Say [For example] a tuna from Taiwan,” Bigelow said, “They can look and see, ‘Have there been reports of slavery there?’, ‘are there laws in place to protect workers?'”
“We were dead against the farming industry off the bat,” said Dominic Mercurio.
Mercurio owns two Monterey seafood restaurants. He says he was told about this new database but says his businesses have always known where their product comes from.
“Ninety-nine percent of its wild except for things like cultured oysters and clams which we do get from the East Coast,” Mercurio said.
While there are Central Coast spots that do get local seafood, the Seafood Watch Program says that’s not the case in other places.
“Ninety percent of the seafood we eat in the United States is imported and you have to know a lot to know what kind of product you buy,” Bigelow said, “Our hope is to be able to bring that information to consumers and businesses.”
The Seafood Watch Program says they get the data for the Seafood Slavery Risk tool from human rights organizations around the world.
If you’d like to see the tool click here.
