Thai seafood "slavery" in the news again

[boosta]

Following up with Walmart on ILU's case against Narong.

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/06/did-slave-process-shrimp-your-scampi

[David48]

Humm ...

The reality of what you usually buy in Thailand is a little different.

The gf's parents earn their living growing Prawns/Shrimp.

They grow, sell to this local wholesale market who, in-turn, then sell to you through various outlets.

I like the expectant expression of the Farm Girl looking forlornly into the empty basket, maybe wishing for a bumper catch.

The produce is caught at daybreak, iced within 30 mins, at the wholesaler with 90 mins and maybe on your dinner plate that night.

.

[boosta]

Nice to see.

Every industry has a large variety of company types, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the worst abuses committed by the largest MNC operators.

Apparently the shrimp industry is actually one of the better segments of Thailand's seafood exports, deep see trawling in international waters being one of the worst, routinely killing troublesome (unpaid) workers over the side at sea.

[David48]

Good and Bad in everything I believe.

I have heard the stories re the international workers being lost at sea at alarming rates.

.

[needforspeed]

Good and Bad in everything I believe.

I have heard the stories re the international workers being lost at sea at alarming rates.

.

We picked up a cambodian fisher man out of the South Chinese sea (Malaysian waters), he bean forced by his boss to jump in the water together with 2 more guys.

His 2 friends didn’t make it, he stayed in the water for over 5 days. Recovered at the oilplatform in our hospital for few days and bean send to Malaysia Hospital for further checks.

We give him clothes, travel bags and money to go back home.

We got some information about the owners of the boats and informed some people in south Thailand about thio case, nobody dare to tal;k with the police and nothing been done.

Very sad,

you dont need to be proud to be a police official in Thailand, i would be ashame

[Dancealot]

@Needforspeed; You did the right thing and you have a good heart.

[simple1]

Good and Bad in everything I believe.

I have heard the stories re the international workers being lost at sea at alarming rates.

.

David, you have a nice warm and fuzzy post of Thais and others working in the prawn processing industry. On the other hand their are many creditable reports that talk to human trafficking, indentured labour and so on.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/17/walmarts-human-trafficking-problem

[David48]

Good and Bad in everything I believe.

I have heard the stories re the international workers being lost at sea at alarming rates.

.

David, you have a nice warm and fuzzy post of Thais and others working in the prawn processing industry. On the other hand their are many creditable reports that talk to human trafficking, indentured labour and so on.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/17/walmarts-human-trafficking-problem

What I wrote was what was witnessed by my eyes, as opposed to an American writing a piece designed to sell newspapers who, most likely wrote the article from his desktop.

There is an inference that the Prawn product that you and I buy in Thailand is somehow tainted and I am referring to Farmed Prawns which most likely, most of us eat. We shouldn't feel guilty about that.

What product is exported overseas, to the States could be a different matter.

Certainly I acknowledge there are two sides to every story ... I'm just presenting the case from a Thai perspective.

If anyone is interested in learning about the humble Prawn/Shrimp that you buy at the local market, I've documented the process in a series of easy to read Threads with few words and lots of Images and Videos starting with Prawn Harvesting 01

So, I'm not saying for a second that some or all of those things that the article refers to happens ... or not ... I am simply suggesting that most of the Prawns that we eat in Thailand are Farm Harvested under sustainable conditions by mostly Ma and Pa Farmer.

.

[boosta]

Yes as I noted above, it isn't the shrimp farming industry under attack here.

But to the extent these accusations are true - and apparently they just scratch the surface - whatever pressure can be brought to bear on the Thai government to coordinate effective action is a good thing.

That's the only way things are going to change, pressure from consumers voting with their pocket books, causing pain to the whole seafood industry so the legitimate (smaller) operators start to scream for something to be done to reign in the (larger) worst offenders.

This will ultimately require international that NGOs be given authority to independently verify that the Thai authorities are doing their job, something like the "dolphin safe" labeling laws I guess.

[David48]

Nice to see.

Every industry has a large variety of company types, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the worst abuses committed by the largest MNC operators.

Apparently the shrimp industry is actually one of the better segments of Thailand's seafood exports, deep see trawling in international waters being one of the worst, routinely killing troublesome (unpaid) workers over the side at sea.

I'll take a piece of humble pie now as I didn't see this post of yours above ... ... though I have to say I was replying more to simple1's post.

.

[boosta]

No worries, and my condolences to your friends and families to the extent their business suffers for a while as this campaign gathers steam, it may well take years before its pressure is effective enough. . .

[simple1]

Good and Bad in everything I believe.

I have heard the stories re the international workers being lost at sea at alarming rates.

.

David, you have a nice warm and fuzzy post of Thais and others working in the prawn processing industry. On the other hand their are many creditable reports that talk to human trafficking, indentured labour and so on.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/17/walmarts-human-trafficking-problem

What I wrote was what was witnessed by my eyes, as opposed to an American writing a piece designed to sell newspapers who, most likely wrote the article from his desktop.

There is an inference that the Prawn product that you and I buy in Thailand is somehow tainted and I am referring to Farmed Prawns which most likely, most of us eat. We shouldn't feel guilty about that.

What product is exported overseas, to the States could be a different matter.

Certainly I acknowledge there are two sides to every story ... I'm just presenting the case from a Thai perspective.

If anyone is interested in learning about the humble Prawn/Shrimp that you buy at the local market, I've documented the process in a series of easy to read Threads with few words and lots of Images and Videos starting with Prawn Harvesting 01

So, I'm not saying for a second that some or all of those things that the article refers to happens ... or not ... I am simply suggesting that most of the Prawns that we eat in Thailand are Farm Harvested under sustainable conditions by mostly Ma and Pa Farmer.

.

OK, but most of the output from prawn farms/fishing is for export markets. Newspaper reports are usually re-iterating reports fom NGO reports & Western government agencies; very cynical to say it about creating sales of newspapers. Also you may recall an incident of a Thai activist who was murdered when exposing the illegal use of land for Thai prawn farms.

There would be good Thais who do not exploit workers or illegally use land for prawn farms, but sadly it appears to be a common practice.

On a lighter note, good to see you enjoy prawns that are ethically farmed.

Edited June 19, 2013 by simple1

[needforspeed]

Good and Bad in everything I believe.

I have heard the stories re the international workers being lost at sea at alarming rates.

.

We picked up a cambodian fisher man out of the South Chinese sea (Malaysian waters), he bean forced by his boss to jump in the water together with 2 more guys.

His 2 friends didn’t make it, he stayed in the water for over 5 days. Recovered at the oilplatform in our hospital for few days and bean send to Malaysia Hospital for further checks.

We give him clothes, travel bags and money to go back home.

We got some information about the owners of the boats and informed some people in south Thailand about thio case, nobody dare to tal;k with the police and nothing been done.

Very sad,

you dont need to be proud to be a police official in Thailand, i would be ashame

"You dont need to be proud to be a police official in Thailand, i would be ashame. I am refering to police involved i this crime not about police in general.

[boosta]

Also you may recall an incident of a Thai activist who was murdered when exposing the illegal use of land for Thai prawn farms.

-

And the current case ongoing where the industry is suing the NGO worker that was hired to investigate and report (Finnwatch?) for slander/libel under the silly Thai law where telling the truth is not a defense.

-

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I am refering to police involved i this crime not about police in general.

-

Not so much a "police" issue as that of the many overlapping departments who have jurisdiction, the human-rights enforcing ones being toothless and the fishing-related ones captive to the industry, all need cleaning out, strengthening and coordinating, not an easy problem to solve unless TPTB make it a priority due to pressure from the industry itself.

Which will only happen if Europe and/or the US consumers stop buying their products.