Ethical Recruitment in the Tuna Sector in Southeast Asia
Philippines and Taiwan
Featured Work
Recruitment and Hiring Practices in the Philippine Tuna Handline Fishing Sector
Recruitment and Employment Experiences of Filipino Migrant Fishers in Taiwan’s Tuna Fishing Sector
Tuna fishers are exposed to some of the most severe, dangerous working and living conditions ever documented, including high vulnerability to forced labor and human trafficking. With the generous support of the Walmart Foundation, Verité and Verité Southeast Asia (VSEA) have implemented an initiative to better protect tuna fishers and vessel workers from human trafficking and forced labor by promoting ethical recruitment and understanding the barriers that prevent ethical recruitment practices from being adopted.
For more information about the reports, please email Verité Southeast Asia at: vsea@verite.org.
Recruitment and Hiring Practices in the Philippine Tuna Handline Fishing Sector
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As the Philippines’ top seafood export, tuna plays a significant role in supporting the country’s economy and sustaining the livelihood of families in many of the country’s fishing communities. In General Santos City, the country’s “tuna capital,” tuna fishing relies heavily on handlining, an eco-friendly but labor-intensive means of harvest in which fishers use baited hooks on a single line.
While legislation is in place to protect the rights of workers in the seafood sector, some regulatory gaps exist, and implementation of the legal requirements by tuna companies remains weak. In particular, recruitment and hiring processes in handline fishing are still largely informal and poorly regulated, exacerbating workers’ vulnerability and exposing them to a range of exploitative labor practices.
In this research report, Verité presents current labor practices in Philippine tuna handlining and uses recruitment as a lens to examine the unique vulnerabilities experienced by handline fishers. It further explores the factors that hinder ethical recruitment practices from taking root in handline tuna fishing and offers recommendations to government, private sector, and civil society actors. See the report >
My Labor Matters
We began our work in 2015, featuring the Philippines – Japan labor migration corridor. This year, with the generous support of the Walmart Foundation, our special focus is on the plight of Filipino migrant workers in the fishing industry along the Taiwan corridor.
Today:
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My Labor Matters provides voice to workers through our Report Concerns feature where we respond to workers who seek help through our messaging channels online.
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We have a strong community of over 12,000 Filipino workers and jobseekers from all over the world who interact with us through our Facebook page.
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In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we regularly provide information to migrant workers on government announcements, safety measures, and other helplines that workers can readily access at this time.
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We feature other civil society organizations that provide support to migrant workers.
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Through our information campaigns, we are able to underscore the important work and role of migrant fishers in the seafood supply chain.
My Labor Matters is managed by Verité Southeast Asia. Visit our website www.mylabormatters.com and Facebook page www.facebook.com/mylabormatters.
Visit My Labor Matters >
Recruitment and Employment Experiences of Filipino Migrant Fishers in Taiwan’s Tuna Fishing Sector
See the report >
Filipino migrant fishers constitute the second largest group of foreign workers on Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels. Since the early 2000s, Verité has documented labor conditions and risks faced by Filipino migrant fishers in Taiwan, noting that many of them were undocumented, recruited through informal channels, and vulnerable to trafficking for forced labor and other forms of exploitation. In more recent years, in Verité’s experience, more Filipinos appear to be recruited through formal channels. However, Verité has found evidence that Filipino migrants continue to be exposed to serious risk during recruitment.
The report presents the recruitment and employment experiences of Filipino migrant fishers in Taiwan and explores the links between recruitment practices and documented labor risks, including indicators of forced labor, for Filipino migrant fishers in the tuna sector in Taiwan.
Verité’s findings highlight the need for ethical recruitment interventions that shift the cost of labor migration away from migrant fishers, and that implement risk-prevention mechanisms to address workers’ vulnerabilities at specific phases of the labor migration cycle. See the report >
Webinar on the Recruitment Experiences and Working Conditions of Migrant Fishers in Taiwan
On October 2, 2020, Verité Southeast Asia hosted a webinar on Recruitment Experiences and Working Conditions of Migrant Fishers in Taiwan to launch the research report and share findings and recommendations with stakeholders, and to gather insights, feedback, and additional recommendations on next steps.
Download the e-brochure for an overview of the webinar.
These reports and materials were made possible through the generous support of the
