March 12, 2025
Contact: cohenmilstein@berlinrosen.com
San Diego, CA – Four Indonesian villagers who worked on fishing vessels in Bumble Bee Foods, LLC’s supply chain accused the seafood company of knowingly benefitting from forced labor in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. It is believed to be the first such forced labor at sea case brought against an American seafood company.
The men were lured by promises of good jobs that would support their families but life on board vessels in Bumble Bee’s supply chain was rife with abuse, according to filings. The villagers allege they endured violence daily, did not get enough to eat, and were denied medical care even when seriously injured and forced to keep working.
Trapped by predatory contracts, the men would owe insurmountably steep fines if they quit – a form of forced labor known as debt bondage. According to the complaint, the wages they were promised shrank as funds were withheld to repay bogus fees, deductions and penalties. The men returned home to find they had earned little to no money from months of hard labor. Bumble Bee earns over $1 billion in revenue annually.
“These men were looking for good jobs so they could provide for their families and build a future. Instead, they allege, they were trapped – isolated at sea, beaten with metal hooks, not getting enough food, working around the clock – and facing financial penalties if they tried to leave. The complaint outlines how each of them asked to be released but were kept on board against their will – and in some cases didn’t take home a single penny for their labor,” said Agnieszka Fryszman, partner at Cohen Milstein and chair of its Human Rights practice. “As part of its effort to stamp out human trafficking and forced labor, U.S. law authorizes survivors to bring claims in the United States against the persons who benefitted from those abuses, recognizing that forced labor overseas harms U.S. companies that obey the law. Our clients are seeking justice not only for themselves but to implement changes that will protect other fishers, including men at sea right now on the same boats.”
“One time, the rope holding the weighing gear broke and dropped a load of fish on me, cutting my leg open from thigh to shin. The captain ordered me to keep working. I thought there was water filling my boot, but I realized it was my own blood. I could see the bone in my leg,” said Akhmad, one of the Indonesian villagers bringing the lawsuit. “I was left to clean and bandage my leg myself, without sterile medical supplies, and I kept bleeding for two weeks. They made me keep working. It still hurts and probably always will. One of the other fishers and I asked to leave the ship, but the captain refused.”
Once on board, the fishers were not allowed to leave the boats and the ships never sailed to port. Vessels in Bumble Bee’s fleet transfer their catches to refrigerated cargo vessels, and receive supplies of fuel, food and water at sea. This practice, called transshipment, enables fishing vessels to remain at sea for months or even years at a time.
For decades, governments, international organizations, non-government organizations, academic researchers, labor rights advocates and the media have raised alarms about the prevalence of forced labor on distant-water fishing vessels, as well as about risk factors such as the use of transshipment. As a leader in the seafood industry, Bumble Bee is aware of these issues. Since 2016, Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace East Asia and Greenpeace Southeast Asia have issued multiple reports highlighting the use of forced labor on vessels in Bumble Bee’s supply chain. When Greenpeace USA emailed a link to one such report directly to Bumble Bee’s then-CEO Chris Lischewski, he replied, “As for the report on Taiwan, I have printed it but have not yet taken the time to read it. It is not high on my priority list.”
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act authorizes a survivor of human trafficking, regardless of their citizenship, to take legal action against companies that knew or should have known that they were benefiting from participation in a venture that used forced labor. Bumble Bee Foods is headquartered in San Diego, California.
The plaintiffs are represented by Agnieszka Fryszman and Nicholas Jacques of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. Other counsel include Paul Hoffman and Helen Zeldes of Shonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes LLP and Asia Arminio of GREENPEACE, INC.
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