Landmark report places migrant labour recruitment practices in global tuna processing plants under the spotlight
About the Study
With concerns rising about human rights violations within the seafood sector, The SEA Alliance - a group of 39 leading UK retailers and seafood businesses - along with a consortium of seafood groups: the British Retail Consortium, Food Network for Ethical Trade, Global Tuna Alliance and the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship, commissioned an independent study into recruitment practices in the global tuna processing sector.
The findings highlight both the challenges in establishing enforceable labour standards in tuna processing plants around the world AND explore how the seafood industry is working to improve labour conditions and tackle human rights violations.
With a focus on five countries - Maldives, Mauritius, the Philippines, Seychelles and Thailand, the study, carried out by Impactt, focuses on migrant labour used in tuna processing plants - building a picture of practices in each country by reviewing regulatory frameworks and conducting interviews and surveys. It incorporates inputs from external stakeholders as well as industry members and offers tailored recommendations to buyers, suppliers and industry associations seeking to ensure that the Employer Pays Principle is implemented throughout supply chains.
In the study, Impactt outline how the findings highlight both the challenges of establishing enforceable labour standards for migrant workers in the tuna processing industry around the world and explore how the seafood industry is working to improve labour conditions and tackle human rights violations. Impactt review the regulatory frameworks and conduct interviews and surveys in the focus countries. There is also input from external stakeholders and industry members, and offers tailored recommendations to all levels of the supply chain, to support the adoption of responsible recruitment practices.
This study started in July 2023 and was co-launched at a SEA Alliance hosted event at the Barcelona Global Seafood Expo on 6th May 2025.
The full report, summary, media statement and our response to the report can be accessed below.
Key findings from the study include:
- Lack of sufficient commercial or regulatory pressure or incentives for actors to commit suitable resources for full implementation
- Challenges for industry associations to establish enforceable standards or commitments around responsible recruitment
- Complexities in seafood supply chains increase the risks, as well as hindering buyers from achieving sufficient oversight and leverage to encourage suppliers to adopt responsible recruitment practices.
- Challenges in understanding the “true” cost of recruitment, which is critical to ensuring that responsible recruitment is embedded as a cost of doing business.
Opportunities for:
- industry associations to act as convenors to facilitate dialogue, foster collaboration, and collective engagement to address responsible recruitment
- buyers to provide incentives for suppliers to implement employer pays principles, support capacity building and embed responsible recruitment principles into their procurement practices
- suppliers to collaborate with buyers to estimate fair recruitment costs, streamline supply chains, partner with zero-fee recruitment agencies, enforce contractual safeguards, and actively monitor recruitment practices
- all groups to increase information sharing to increase transparency into supplier recruitment practices.
