BENJINA, Indonesia // The Burmese slaves sit on the floor and stare through the rusty bars of their cage, hidden on a tiny tropical island thousands of kilometres from home.
Just a few metres away, other workers load cargo ships with slave-caught seafood that enters the supply networks of major supermarkets, restaurants and even pet stores.
Here, in the Indonesian island village of Benjina and the surrounding waters, hundreds of trapped men represent one of the most desperate links criss-crossing between companies and countries in the seafood industry. This intricate web of connections separates the fish bought by consumers from the men who catch it, and obscures a brutal truth: your seafood may come from slaves.
The men on Benjina are mostly from Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in the world. They were brought to Indonesia through Thailand and forced to fish. Their catch is shipped back to Thailand, and then enters the global commerce stream.
Some of the fishermen, risking their lives, begged for help.
“I want to go home. We all do,” one slave calls out over the side of his boat, a cry repeated by many men. “Our parents haven’t heard from us for a long time, I’m sure they think we are dead.”
Their catch mixes in with other fish at numerous sites in Thailand, including processing plants. US Customs records show that several of those Thai factories ship to America. They also ship to Europe and Asia.
The slaves describe 20- to 22-hour shifts and unclean drinking water. Almost all say they are kicked, beaten or whipped with toxic stingray tails if they complain or try to rest. They are paid little or nothing.
Runaway Hlaing Min said many died at sea.
“If Americans and Europeans are eating this fish, they should remember us. There must be a mountain of bones under the sea,” he said. “The bones of the people could be an island, it’s that many.”
The small harbour in the village is occupied by Pusaka Benjina Resources, whose five-storey office compound includes the cage with the slaves. The company is the only fishing operation on Benjina officially registered in Indonesia, and is listed as the owner of more than 90 trawlers. However, the captains are Thai, and the Indonesian government is reviewing to see if the boats are really Thai-owned. Pusaka Benjina did not respond to attempts to contact them.
At the Benjina port, slaves from a dozen fishing vessels offload their catch into a large refrigerated cargo ship, the Silver Sea Line.
The ship belongs to the Silver Sea Reefer Company, which is registered in Thailand and has at least nine refrigerated cargo boats. The company said it was not involved with the fishermen.
“We only carry the shipment and we are hired in general by clients,” said owner Panya Luangsomboon. “We’re separated from the fishing boats.”
The ship was tracked by satelllite to Samut Sakhon, Thailand, where workers packed the seafood over four nights on to more than 150 trucks for delivery to factories around the city.
At those plants, representatives said they sold seafood to other Thai processors and distributors.
For example, one truck bore the name and bird logo of Kingfisher Holdings, which supplies frozen and canned seafood around the world. Another truck went to Mahachai Marine Foods, a cold storage business that also supplies Kingfisher, according to Kawin Ngernanek, whose family runs it.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” said Kawin, who also serves as spokesman for the Thai Overseas Fisheries Association. “Kingfisher buys several types of products.”
When later asked about abusive labour practices, Mr Kawin was not available. Instead, Mahachai Marine Foods manager Narongdet Prasertsri responded: “I have no idea about it at all.”
A similar pattern repeats itself with other companies and shipments.
Another truck was followed to Niwat Company, where part owner Prasert Luangsomboon said the company sells to Thai Union Manufacturing. Weeks later, when confronted about forced labour in their supply chain, Niwat referred requests for comment to Mr Luangsomboon, who could not be reached for further comment.
Thai Union Manufacturing is a subsidiary of Thai Union Frozen Products, Thailand’s largest seafood corporation, with US$3.5 billion (Dh12.85bn) in annual sales. This parent company, known simply as Thai Union, owns Chicken of the Sea and is buying Bumble Bee, another US-based seafood company.
Thai Union said it took multiple stakeholders to eradicate labour abuses.
“We all have to admit that it is difficult to ensure the Thai seafood industry’s supply chain is 100 per cent clean,” chief executive Thiraphong Chansiri said in an email.
The enslaved fishermen on Benjina have no idea where the fish they catch goes, only that it is too valuable for them to eat. Their desperation is palpable.
A crude cemetery holds more than 60 graves strangled by tall grasses and jungle vines. The small wooden markers are neatly labelled, some with the falsified names of slaves and boats. Only their friends remember where they were laid to rest.
In the past, former slave Hla Phyo said, supervisors on ships simply tossed bodies into the sea to be devoured by sharks. But after authorities and companies started demanding that every man be accounted for on the roster upon return, captains began stowing corpses alongside the fish in ship freezers until they arrived back in Benjina.
“I remember thinking when I was digging, the only thing that awaits us here is death,” Mr Phyo said.
* Associated Press
