In a report issued today, the Sustainability Incubator explains why global shrimp prices have declined by forty-five (45) percent since 2018. In Human Rights for Dinner: Supermarket Shrimp and the Business of Exploitation, the non-governmental organization (NGO) summarizes the findings of recent investigations of foreign shrimp supply chains conducted by the Corporate Accountability Lab in India, by the Sustainability Incubator (along with three in-country experts) in Vietnam, and by the Akatiga Center of Social Analysis, the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), and the Miguani Research Institute in Indonesia. In each investigation, the various NGOs all reached the same conclusion – the conditions of employment have deteriorated as global shrimp prices have declined, leading to increases in human rights abuses in these supply chains, including incidents of forced labor. The Sustainability Incubator additionally confirms these findings as being similarly applicable to farmed shrimp production for export in Ecuador, Bangladesh, and Thailand.
Human Rights for Dinner poses a specific and explicit challenge to American shrimp importers and their apologists: Have the lives of those working in foreign shrimp industries improved, stayed the same, or worsened as shrimp prices have declined over the last few years? Human Rights for Dinner answers this question clearly and unequivocally by documenting the deterioration of wages and working conditions across shrimp aquaculture industries across the globe. As such, little has changed and the true cost of cheap shrimp continues to be exploitation of vulnerable populations and their consequential suffering.
The other side of the coin, argues Human Rights for Dinner, is the profits enjoyed by middlemen and retailers who increase their margins by depressing prices to producers below the cost of production. These profits are premised on willful ignorance as to the impact on shrimp producers around the world, including shrimp fishermen in the United States who cannot work for what they are being paid at the dock.
At the same time as Human Rights for Dinner explodes the myth that foreign farmed-shrimp is produced more efficiently and economically than U.S. wild-caught shrimp by demonstrating that these prices depend upon the worsening exploitation of vulnerable populations, the Sustainability Incubator further establishes that certification schemes, like the Best Aquaculture Practice (BAP) program, create false and misleading impressions regarding the sustainability and ethical standards of farmed shrimp production. As noted in the report, less than one-tenth of one percent of the shrimp farms in Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Thailand are certified under the BAP ecolabel. The Sustainability Incubator observes: “With the yield from most certified shrimp farms being very small, it is mathematically impossible for certified farms to produce enough shrimp per month to supply all of the supermarkets that boast commitments to purchasing certified shrimp.”
Relatedly, Human Rights for Dinner exposes one of the most egregious misconceptions of foreign shrimp supply chains. As the Sustainability Incubator explains: “The bulk flow of export-oriented shrimp from Asia is not traceable to farms, even though retailers use labels and certifications to give this appearance.” In each of the in-country investigations, the various authors found that farmed shrimp is purchased by aggregators to prevent tracing exported shrimp back to its specific source. This remains true despite federal regulatory programs, like NOAA Fisheries’ Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), that purport to require full traceability from the pond to U.S. port of entry.
“Human Rights for Dinner is essential reading for anyone involved in the shrimp industry, whether a producer, purchaser, or consumer,” said John Williams, the Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “While it is no secret that the cost of cheap shrimp is human suffering, the reports highlighted by the Sustainability Incubator each demand that importers answer for the collapse in working conditions in foreign shrimp supply chains post-pandemic.”
Read the Sustainability Incubator’s report, Human Rights for Dinner (Sept. 30, 2024): https://www.sustainability-incubator.com/
Review the report by the Akatiga Center of Social Analysis, the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), and the Miguani Research Institute regarding the farmed shrimp industry in Indonesia, Net Profits, Human Cost: How Supermarkets Shape Exploitation in Shrimp Aquaculture (Sept. 2024): https://www.akatiga.org/language/en/research/net-profits-human-cost/
Review the Sustainability Incubator’s report regarding the farmed shrimp industry in Vietnam, Laboring For Less So Supermarkets Profit More (Sept. 2024): https://www.sustainability-incubator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Laboring-for-less_Vietnam-shrimp_September-12-2024.pdf
Review the Corporate Accountability Lab’s report regarding the farmed shrimp industry in India, Hidden Harvest: Human Rights and Environmental Abuses in India’s Shrimp Industry (March 2024): https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/hidden-harvest
Check your suppliers through the Southern Shrimp Alliance’s Forced Labor resource page: https://shrimpalliance.com/forced-labor/