China Commission Cites Forced Labor in Chinese Seafood

In his opening statement Mr. Smith cited the work of The Outlaw Ocean Project whose reporting exposed a “disconcerting pattern of People’s Republic of China (PRC) based companies exploiting the forced labor of Uyghurs and North Koreans to process substantial quantities of seafood destined for the U.S. market.

From fish sticks to calamari, these products infiltrate the supply chains of major restaurants, wholesalers, and even find their way into the meals served at American schools and military bases. Such actions directly contravene the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and the Countering American Adversaries through Sanctions Acts (CAATSA), both of which strictly prohibit the importation of goods produced by forced labor into the U.S.” 

“It is evident,” continued Mr. Smith, “that the PRC is not the sole party involved in these reprehensible practices. Governments—including our own—have been complicit in the procurement of tainted seafood. This is also why Senator Merkley and I, have drafted a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, calling for a comprehensive investigation into not only the PRC’s disturbing activities at sea and on land but also the weaknesses in our system and the complicity of the private sector in the seafood industry.” 

The letter from the Chairs urging DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to act “immediately and robustly” to curb seafood imports caught or processed with forced labor in China and to coordinate U.S. government response so that “America’s seafood supply chains are force labor-free” can be found here.       

Ian Urbina, the Director and Founder of The Outlaw Ocean Project, noted that "even seafood caught by U.S.-flagged vessels, in our own waters, is often shipped to China to be cleaned, cut and packaged before being sent back to American consumers… After the start of the global pandemic led to severe labor, logistical and supply chain problems in China, the government there began helping its massive seafood industry by moving thousands of workers across the country from Xinjiang…in the far west, to coastal Shandong.” 

Greg Scarlatoiu, the Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) provided evidence of the dire situation of North Korean workers in the Chinese seafood industry based on a survey his team conducted in China. North Korean escapees interviewed for our survey who were formerly directly involved in North Korean seafood exports to China or the dispatch of North Korean workers to Chinese seafood processing plants, concurred with Mr. Urbina’s findings [that seafood] processed and packaged by Uyghurs and North Koreans was sent to dozens of U.S. importers.”

Robert Stumberg, Professor of Law at Georgetown University offered his recommendations for how to close gaps in federal procurement so that the U.S. government does not buy seafood with forced labor. 

Sally Yozell, the Director of the Environmental Security Program at the Stimson Center offered a comprehensive overview of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the challenges faced by the United States and other governments’ in addressing the challenged posed by China’s IUU fishing saying, “The multidimensional problem of IUU fishing needs an equally multidimensional solution.”  

Additional submitted testimonies from Stephanie Madsen, Executive Director of At-Sea Processors Association; Judy Gearhart, Research Professor at the Accountability Research Center at American University; Badri Jimale, Director of Horn of African Institute, and Michael Sinclair, former Federal Executive Fellow at The Brookings Institute can be found at the hearing webpage “From Bait to Plate—How Forced Labor in China Taints America’s Seafood Supply Chain.”