Informing practical pathways to combat forced labor in the offshore commercial fishing industry: A research agenda for a transdisciplinary task force.

Abstract

In 2021 an estimated 128,000 fishers were working on vessels in conditions indicative of forced labor. Forced labor in the offshore commercial fishing industry is detrimental to sustainable fisheries management, the fishing sector, and society as a whole. This research identifies practical pathways towards a more coherent and integrated application of efforts to combat this forced labor. Interviews with cross-sectoral experts clarify the convergence and conflation of key security issues related to the offshore fishing industry and inform recommendations for improved transdisciplinary coherence in efforts to combat this offshore forced labor. Key findings elucidate crucial areas in the offshore commercial fisheries industry for obtaining better governance, improving problem characterization between disciplines, as well as raising awareness and building capacity. This paper concludes that a holistic, strategic applied effort to combating forced labor in the offshore commercial fishing industry is necessary, and a transdisciplinary task force is proposed.