Federal investigators say they haven’t found much evidence to back up claims of labor abuse on Hawaiian fishing boats, reports Civil Beat. The officials started interviewing foreign workers after an Associated Press investigation revealed human trafficking, egregious pay and abusive working conditions for the Southeast Asian men who make up the majority of Hawaii’s fishing fleet crews. According to AP, some of these fishermen have not left their boats for years at a time, since they would be subject to deportation if they came ashore, though they are allowed to work on the ships through an immigration loophole.
“Federal law generally requires the crews of U.S.-flagged boats to be comprised of at least 75 percent U.S. citizens, but Congress in 1988 carved out an exemption for commercial fishermen who target highly migratory species, such as the tuna and swordfish that the longliners and purse seiners [in Hawaii] target,” explains Civil Beat.
While the AP investigation likened the conditions on Hawaiian boats to slavery, federal investigators said that the foreign fishermen they’ve interviewed haven’t complained. “The federal officials and boat owners said that the foreign workers are not held captive. They are free to leave anytime, and are regularly flown home for special occasions or family emergencies at the vessel owner’s expense,” says Civil Beat.
“People don’t understand the real story,” said Kinh Anthony Nguyen, who owns several fishing boats and usually employs Filipino workers. Nguyen claims his fishermen make enough to put their kids through school and are happy to work despite the long hours. Human rights advocates, though, suspect that laborers probably fear reprisal if they tell the truth and most cannot afford to fly home, because their captains intentionally keep them in debt.