Fish for Export: working in the wild capture seafood industry in Indonesia

Funder

British Academy

Value

£208,157

PI and Project Team Members

Dr Katharine Jones, Coventry University (PI)
Dr Lisa Rende Taylor, Issara Institute, Bangkok (Co-Investigator), (Late.)
Professor Melda Kamil Ariadno, Centre for Sustainable Ocean Policy (Co-Investigator)
Mrs Dina Nuriyati, SBMI, Indonesia (Researcher)
Mr David Visser, Independent Consultant, Indonesia (Researcher)
Mr Jeremia Humolong Prasetya, Centre for Sustainable Ocean Policy, Indonesia (Researcher)

Project Partners and Countries 

Issara Institute (Bangkok)
Centre for Sustainable Ocean Policy
IOM Indonesia
SBMI Indonesia
INFISA Indonesia
PPI Indonesia
ATLI Indonesia
KNTI Indonesia
Bali Fishers Network, Indonesia

Project Overview

Seafood is big business. It is one of the most traded food commodities worldwide and generates more revenue than meat, tobacco, rice and sugar combined. The European Union (EU), the US and Japan account for around two-thirds of the global value of seafood imports. For business and for consumers seafood is a success story. However, for our oceans and for the people in the low-income countries catching and processing fish the costs and risks of this global industry are substantial. According to the UN, nearly 90 percent of the world’s marine stocks are now fully exploited, over-exploited or completely depleted. For the past decade, journalists and human rights organisations have reported the trafficking, forced labour and even murder of fishers in the Asia-Pacific.

This project aimed to produce robust evidence-driven recommendations to help brand-owners, buyers and suppliers based in the EU and US to better understand where and how they can address any labour abuse risks within their supply chains in Indonesia. Indonesia is the world’s second largest producer of seafood after China. Despite this, to our best knowledge, this is the first study to conduct an in-depth review of employment practices within the Indonesia export fishing industry. To date, empirical research in this region has primarily been conducted in Thailand.

The research was funded by British Academy, the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences, through the joint BA/DFID Programme, ‘Tackling Slavery, Human Trafficking and Child Labour in Modern Business’. The funding programme aimed to support interlinked research and policy interventions, identifying and sharing what works at scale in different contexts whilst working with researchers from developing countries to help build local capacity on these issues. Current understanding of what works in addressing modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour is very limited. We researched three areas:

1. We mapped employment and recruitment conditions of people who work in the export seafood industry in Indonesia, off-shore (on fishing vessels) and on-shore (in factories).
2. We explored how US and UK buyers and retailers source seafood from Indonesia, and the nature of their business relationships with their suppliers in Indonesia. · We reviewed the impact of initiatives aimed at improving labour conditions in the seafood industries internationally.
3. We developed recommendations for international businesses and for the Government of Indonesia.

The study was implemented using qualitative research methods in five field-sites in Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia-speaking researchers conducted 165 interviews with fishers, canning factory workers, stakeholders (government officials, NGO and fishermen’s association representatives), recruiters, supplier company representatives, seafood industry association representatives, global retailers and international experts in the industry. Although the research is now complete, impact activities aimed at encouraging the uptake of recommendations are continuing.