A First Major Legal Action Is Taken to Stop Seafood Imports Tied to the Investigation
On Thursday, October 26, a non-profit organization in Washington D.C. filed a legal petition with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asking the agency to stop all squid from entering the country tied to the Zhen Fa 7, a ship that was the focus of part of our story first published in the New Yorker. This is the Chinese squid ship where Daniel Aritonang, a young Indonesian man, was working in the months before his death. This legal petition is important because it is part of a wider and growing call for federal authorities to act in response to the investigation.
The organization that filed the petition is called the Human Trafficking Legal Center, which is dedicated to protecting victims of trafficking by connecting survivors with pro bono legal representation. The relevant law that the organization is using is Section 307 of the United States Tariff Act of 1930, which prohibits the importation of all goods produced wholly or in part abroad by forced or prison labor. CBP is authorized to detain any shipment that is believed to contain goods made with forced labor at any U.S. port of entry. Since 2020, CBP has issued at least five WROs targeting the seafood industry. So far, these WROs have largely targeted vessels fishing for tuna while other fleets exposed to human rights and labor concerns have avoided scrutiny.
The broader significance of this petition is that it occurs against the backdrop of other important stakeholders who have also called for CBP to act immediately and firmly in response to the investigation.
For example, on October 24, Representative Chris Smith and Senator Jeffrey Merkley sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (which overseas CBP) calling for the agency to “issue WROs for all seafood processing facilities in Shandong and Liaoning provinces” as a result of the findings from the Outlaw Ocean Project’s investigation. This request by these lawmakers is very significant because it would impact dozens of processing plants and a large portion of the seafood industry in China. The Outlaw Ocean Project identified at least three plants in Liaoning Province using North Korean workers and at least ten plants in Shandong using workers from Xinjiang. Shandong Province is one of the largest seafood processing and exporting hubs within China according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under U.S. law, imports of products made wholly or in part by workers from North Korea and Xinjiang are prohibited.
The requests from Smith and Merkley tied to the use of WROs stems from their role on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which is an important body because it is bi-partisan and it is formed by Congress as well as the White House. This commission recently also held a hearing about the investigation’s findings. During that hearing, some witnesses called on CBP to take a more proactive posture in light of this investigation’s findings and to use WROs to stop imports connected to the various crimes and concerns that have now been identified.
The calls for WROs based on the investigation have also come from other U.S. lawmakers. On October 20, U.S. lawmakers, Representative Raúl M. Grijalva and Representative Jared Huffman, sent a letter to CBP, citing the investigation, insisting the agency “use the full authority granted under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930” to stop seafood produced using forced labor in China from entering the United States. The letter also demanded that the agency provide documents detailing the steps they have taken to stop import of such seafood.
Various NGOs, including several cited on our the Outlaw Ocean Project’s Solutions page, have advocated for a more systematic approach to the use of WROs. Greenpeace, which has provided evidence for several recent WROs targeting tuna vessels, is one such organization. “Illegal fishing and modern slavery are too widespread to fight one vessel at a time,” said John Hocevar, the director of Greenpeace USA’s oceans campaigns. “The government can afford to do better than that.” Even some within the seafood industry are calling for more aggressive use of existing import controls, including WROs. In testimony submitted to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the executive director of the At-Sea Processors Association, a seafood industry group, highlights recent successes of WROs in the seafood industry but calls for the “full implementation and enforcement” of authorities provided under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Some advocates and researchers have faulted CBP for not effectively using WROs since the closure of the Section 307 loophole in 2015, according to a 2023 report released by the Congressional Research Service. The reasons cited for this criticism include a “lack of clear evidentiary standards required in petitions and transparency by CBP on explanations of enforcement actions as concerns.”
It is worth noting that CBP has issued only one WRO in all of 2023, a record low for enforcement actions under the Tariff Act, since the law was amended in 2015. Advocates who focus on these issues have pressed CBP to act swiftly and issue more WROs this year. They have also called for the agency to make public any detentions or seizures on prior seafood WROs (or at least to provide data in the aggregate of how many shipments were stopped). The last WRO against seafood happened over two years ago. Advocates have also urged CBP not just to issue WROs, but also to issue 'Findings' since they are what typically result in forced labor penalties against U.S. buyers, which is how to get industry to actually pay attention. CBP has only issued one forced labor penalty ever against a U.S. company, which was in 2020.
The basis of the recent petition by the Human Trafficking Legal Center is the investigation conducted by the Outlaw Ocean Project and specifically its revelations of a wide pattern of environmental and human rights concerns across the Chinese distant water squid fishing fleet. The petition filed on Oct 26 is focussed on the Zhen Fa 7. Among the types of evidence that the petition cites from the investigation are recruitment contracts, interviews with Indonesian crewmembers on the vessel, supply-chain tracing, and eyewitness accounts of abuse on the vessel.
The focus of the investigation’s first story (and of the recent CBP petition) is Daniel Aritonang, who worked on the Chinese ship jigger called the Zhen Fa 7. Aritonang arrived in the Port of Montevideo on March 8, 2021. He died on March 9, 2021, at about 12 p.m., and his body was returned to Indonesia. The reason for the disembarkation was given as a “stomach ache”; however, Daniel showed signs of physical abuse and neglect. He had two black eyes, swollen feet, and bruises all over his body, and had ligature marks on his neck. Other Zhen Fa 7 deckhands, interviewed by The Outlaw Ocean Project, said that Aritonang had become sick on the trip, and was affected by gastritis-like stomach issues and swelling across his body. His eyes also turned yellow.
There were 10 Indonesian deckhands on board the Zhen Fa 7, and they documented life aboard through scores of photos and videos. The ship was very dirty and the living quarters were extremely crowded, according to the Indonesian crew. Photos of their cabin show the deckhands packed tightly into bunks, at least six men in a room about roughly 10 square feet. Through testimony provided by these deckhands, the Outlaw Ocean Project identified multiple indicators of forced labor onboard the Zhen Fa 7, including deceptive recruitment, isolation, physical violence, wage withholding, and more.
For more information about the Zhen Fa 7 please see the video about Daniel Aritriong’s experience, an Indonesian deckhand, and his brutal voyage on the Zhen Fa 7; the story that was originally published in The New Yorker; the Discussion page tied to the owner of this ship; the Bait-to-Plate page tracing catch from this ship to grocers in North America. The Human Trafficking Legal Center has not made the petition public. But The Outlaw Ocean Project has reviewed a copy of it.
If you have any questions about this matter, please email us. (media@theoutlawocean.com)