A sweeping Financial Times investigation has revealed that tuna sold by major UK supermarkets is being sourced from fisheries where migrant crews report violence, forced labour, withheld pay and inhumane working conditions.
The FT’s visual investigation exposes widespread human rights abuses aboard vessels supplying household-name retailers including Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda. Fishermen from Indonesia and other countries describe beatings, endless shifts, spoiled food, poor medical care and the confiscation of identity documents — conditions that labour experts say meet the International Labour Organization’s definition of forced labour. Allison Gill of Global Labor Justice called the tuna sector “a highly exploitative industry,” warning that abuses flourish in the remote, unregulated waters where many fleets operate.
The reporting centres on workers like Indonesian fisherman Deby Putra Bunanda, who became partially paralysed after falling ill aboard a Taiwanese vessel supplying international retailers. He says treatment was delayed for months while he was forced to work gruelling hours at sea, and that his ID was confiscated and his wages mishandled. Now unable to walk normally, Bunanda relies on his wife for daily care. His account is echoed by testimony from other crews in the Western Pacific, who describe violent captains, sleep deprivation, cramped bunks and threats tied to debt bondage.
The FT linked two Chinese longline fisheries and a South Korean fleet supplying British retailers to systematic abuse. Workers on Chinese vessels reported spoiled rice, rust-coloured drinking water and a captain who routinely beat crew. Others said they were slapped for mistakes or threatened with knives. Analysis of satellite tracking data showed some South Korean vessels operating for more than a year without returning to port, a red flag for forced labour. Retailers have said they are investigating. South Korean authorities told the FT they are introducing new rest requirements and port-leave rules, while Chinese officials rejected allegations outright, insisting that China is a “responsible fishing country”.
The abuses occur in a global tuna industry under intense economic pressure. Tuna fleets are travelling farther as fish stocks decline, relying heavily on cheap migrant labour and government subsidies. With demand rising for sashimi-grade tuna in Japan and canned tuna in Europe and the US, longline and purse seine vessels typically remain at sea for months or years. Experts told the FT that violent exploitation is now systemic across distant-water fleets from China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
The investigation also highlights failures of certification schemes such as the Marine Stewardship Council, whose blue tick label appears on tuna from fisheries where forced-labour allegations have been documented. The MSC told the FT it makes no social claims and focuses only on sustainability, but labour groups say the scheme offers retailers a “golden shield” that obscures conditions at sea. Meanwhile, weak global enforcement, poor transparency and widespread use of “flags of convenience” make abuses difficult to trace and punish.
British retailers import three-quarters of their canned tuna from a handful of countries with known labour risks, including Ghana, Thailand and Ecuador. The FT found evidence of ID confiscation, debt bondage and withheld contracts in some of these supply chains as well. Industry experts say the supermarket demand for cheap tuna drives the conditions that force crews into debt, danger and isolation.
Rights groups and labour unions are urging stronger due-diligence laws and vessel-level monitoring, including mandatory onboard WiFi so workers can report abuse, contact families and access medical advice. They say collective bargaining and union representation are essential to improving safety and pay. But for many workers, reforms will come too late. Bunanda, now permanently disabled, told the FT that he considers what happened to him a form of “people trade.” His wife described the industry simply: “This is selling and buying humans.”
