In February 2026, the International Labour Organization (ILO) released a report, “Towards fair seas: Recruitment and working conditions for migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in South-East Asia”, analysing working conditions for migrants in fishing and seafood processing.

The report is based on a survey of 1,262 return migrant workers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam, alongside in-depth interviews with 24 workers and 16 key informant interviews with selected stakeholders. Findings include:

• Forced labour: the analysis estimates that one in eight migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors were employed in conditions of forced labour. Forced labour was more common among migrant fishers than seafood processing workers, and was particularly prevalent in longline fishing: 34% of migrant fishers at sea for six months or more experienced conditions of forced labour.
• Recruitment fee charging, with an average total charge of USD2,580. Vietnamese workers paid the highest at USD8,730. Further, sixty-one percent of workers said they had taken a loan or had payments deducted from their wages to pay these charges – this can lead to conditions of debt bondage.
• Contract substitution, with one in ten workers being subjected to conditions different to those outlined in their contract.
• Retention of identify documents, long hours and the denial of leave. Half of workers said their documents were held by their employers, captains or supervisors. Fishers typically worked 14 hours per day, nearly every day of the week; and seafood processing sector workers laboured for nine hours a day, just over six days a week on average. Over a third of workers said they were not provided with leave entitlements.
• Irregular wages, particularly in China, where only less than half of fishers received their wages once per month. Pay in seafood processing was generally more formalised.
• Limited unionisation: just 4% of respondents were union members, and migrants in Thailand were the least likely to be unionised.
• Occupational health and safety risks: 27% of workers experiences injuries requiring medical treatment. Serious occupational injuries was correlated with working excessively long hours.

The report also highlights gender specific risks, including a lack of maternity leave and poor access to maternity protection for migrant women in some countries. The report highlights that the majority of the seafood processing sector workforce are women.

The report argues exploitation in these industries are systemic and says “more attention should be focused on the structural factors that underlie the vulnerabilities of migrant workers”. It calls for the ratification and implementation of international labour standards, and highlights the vital importance of trade unions to bargain directly for better working conditions.