Last week, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a hearing to address concerns about the potential implication of the United States in the use of forced labor within China's seafood industry due to seafood products imported from China.
During the hearing, Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Chris Smith, expressed his concerns about the involvement of various governments, including the United States, in the procurement of tainted seafood. According to a press release from the CECC, Smith stated, "It is evident 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."
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who chair the CECC, were accompanied at the hearing by Commissioner Thea Lee, the Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the Department of Labor. Smith and Merkley announced that they have composed a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, calling for a comprehensive investigation into the forced labor practices within China's seafood industry and the role of these products within the United States.
In the letter, Smith and Merkley cited evidence presented by The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit organization focused on investigating human rights, labor, and environmental issues in the world's oceans. The evidence, detailed in publications such as The New Yorker, highlights the involvement of major wholesalers, restaurants, grocery chains, food service companies, and the U.S. government in importing seafood from processing plants in Shandong and Liaoning that are likely tainted with forced labor.
"The evidence presented by The Outlaw Ocean Project and detailed in the New Yorker and other publications globally is compelling and well-documented," wrote Smith and Merkley, according to the letter written to the Department of Homeland Security. "Major wholesalers, restaurants, grocery chains, food service companies, and the U.S. government all import large amounts of seafood from the processing plants in Shandong and Liaoning. From the fish sticks served at school lunches to the fish sandwiches and calamari sold at major restaurants and grocery chains, the plates of American consumers are filled with products likely tainted with forced labor."
"China matters, and was the focus of our investigation, not just because it is the global lynchpin of the seafood production, but also because China is the most opaque of settings, the most prone to illegal fishing practices and, come to find out, the most dependent on forced labor when it comes to seafood," said Urbina in his testimony, according to CECC. "This forced labor occurs in two distinct realms: at sea and on land – on the fishing ships and in the processing plants."
The hearing held by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China sheds light on the concerns surrounding forced labor in China's seafood industry and the potential involvement of the United States in the procurement of tainted seafood. The call for a comprehensive investigation by the Department of Homeland Security reflects the commitment to address these issues and ensure ethical practices within the seafood supply chain.
