The Seeing Slavery in Seafood Supply Chains report, published in Science Advances, is aimed at giving seafood buyers, sellers and traders the tools to avoid using food items produced by slave labour.
One of the authors, University of Technology Sydney adjunct professor Trevor Ward, has worked with companies to get them asking questions about the origins of their seafood.
"Our approach was that we thought that business and private sector had a responsibility to do their share of the heavy lifting* on trying to correct the slavery wherever it occurs."
Working with the report's authors, 18 global food companies examined their supply chains to determine if slave labour were part of the fishing, producing or shipping processes.
Stricter Australian laws and policing ensure Australian-made products are mostly free from the influence of slave labour, but the fishing industries of Thailand, Indonesia and China are rife with forced labour.
They frequently use stateless or illegal workers, who cannot complain to authorities about being forced to work as slaves in brutal conditions.
The Walk Free Foundation is an anti-slavery advocate.
Its executive director of global research, Fiona David, says fishermen in those countries are often forced to work on ships for years at a time without pay under the threat of violence.
"We've seen very extreme examples of fishermen who have literally witnessed murders, been held captive on boats, been held in cages, beaten ... so we’re talking about very serious abuses here, very serious cruelty. We've seen these cases play out in the Thai fishing industry. And, of course, this is the fourth (largest) country for the fish fillets, for the frozen prawns and even for the tinned tuna that comes into Australia. The global slavery index this year shows us that not only do we have a modern-slavery problem in our own backyard, we’re also importing products into our supermarkets, into the shops that we buy from, that may have been at risk of being produced by forced labour."
While the report calls on businesses to question suppliers to ensure they are not using foods produced via slave labour, Professor Ward says the onus is also on the consumer.
"When the consumers have the opportunity to ask the question, 'Does my tuna come from a processing system that depends on forced labour?' a company will be able to answer that and say, well, yes, no, or maybe, 'Here's the data. Here's as best as we understand the risks to be.' And so it’s actually a process that the consumers themselves will drive."
The federal government has committed $3.6 million to establishing a unit to deal with business on modern slavery.
It will advise Australian businesses on the best way to address slavery in their supply chains and operations.
