
We reform problems of today like modern slavery strategically and sustainably.
Founded in 2012 in Honolulu, we solve problems by investigating conditions, gathering the evidence, finding the places where competing interests intersect then convening people with different stakes to find a shared objective or else assisting each to adapt by resetting arrangements on many fronts. This is how a shift occurs in a system like a global supply chain towards stability, dignity, and durability.
We work through major conflicts today where institutions have not evolved fast enough to avoid conflicts between important needs:
Livelihoods and environmental sustainability,
Economic efficiency and worker dignity,
Global markets and local communities,
Producers and buyers have different pressures. Workers and employers have different interests. Governments and industries have different responsibilities. Yet no-one can sustain their interests without strong working relationshps.
We invest in governance to steward the system.
Here is an example:
Starting in 2011 we began investing in solving the problem of modern slavery in global supply chains. We tracked flows of fish and work across the seafood sector and calculated the magnitude of illegal fishing and forced labour. We learned that 20-32% of US imports were made from illegally-harvested fish and worst offenders like Thai tuna (70%) were made with routine forced labour.
We invited human rights experts to co-research and co-develop methods for locating and correcting forced labour inside a supply chain. We trained supermarkets and their suppliers to perform human rights due diligence.
Push-back took unexpected forms like positive, risk-free accounts of fishing work at sea and in aquaculture based not on worker testimonies but voiced by the industry clients of ecolabels and their environmental NGO partners.
We continued to track this problem empirically and interviewed over 500 workers and producers. They shared their earnings and that their earnings fell significantly after the pandemic. Wholesale prices fell despite recovery. The evidence showed that earnings for middlemen and supermarkets were skyrocketing, suggesting the market was extracting value from production like never before, disguised by higher consumer prices.
We believe that a solution is not a solution unless it is human-scaled. We invest in worker-focused solutions for ASEAN, governments of Indonesia and the Philippines, the UN-FAO and IOM, inspectors, plant owners and fishing fleets to build oversight and to deliver an effective response to fishers and workers.
We stick with people and support them until there is a shift to a better path. The background work is mighty but sometimes enables a grounded solution to emerge rapidly. Thirteen young women were rescued at the General Santos City airport and their traffickers apprehended within 2 months of the municipal government mandating a protocol we assisted them to implement.


We have also built significant capacity for ocean stewardship. We reduced the incidental capture and death of sea birds, turtles, sharks and rays as leader of 30 industry-led Fishery Improvement Projects starting in 2012,. Currently we manage the ocean stewardship investment of SYM PAC International, Fong Hsiang Enterprises and Sprouts Farmers Market.
Resources to Share
- Regional Fishing Labor Study endorsed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nationa (ASEAN), 2026,
- International Organization for Migration-Training-Manual-for-Fishing-and-Seafood-Enterprises_Thailand, IOM-Training-Manual-for-Fishing-and-Seafood-Enterprises-Indonesia, SAFE-Seas-Training-Manual-for-Port-Inspectors-Philippine, SAFE-Seas-Training-Manual-for-Port-Inspectors_Indonesia.
- The Associated Press: As big supermarkets pursue profits, new research shows growing exploitation of shrimp farmers This investigation featured our work and was picked up by the Washington Post, Jakarta Globe, Business Enquirer, Yomiuri Shimbun-The Japan News, NBC, ABC, Fox and CBS News, Shrimp farmers in Asia exploited by U.S. supermarkets for big profits, research finds, SeafoodSource, Undercurrent News and National Public Radio, 28/9/2025. The AP also ran a second article, Takeaways from AP’s report on how shrimp farmers are exploited as supermarkets push for low prices.
- Financial Times UK and Swiss broadcaster RTS featured our original research on tuna, Is tuna ecolabeling causing fishers more harm than good? (published in Nature Ocean Sustainability in Fall 2024). Oceana, Greenpeace, Global Labor Justice and the International Transport Workers’ Federation made press releases.
- US Federal Policy & Court Decisions: 44 citations from our 2014 paper in Marine Policy, Estimates of illegal and unreported fish in seafood imports to the USA).
- Recent Publications:
- Is tuna ecolabeling causing fishers more harm than good? Nature
- A Practical Take on the Duty to Uphold Rights in the Seafood Workplace. Marine Policy.
- Seeing Slavery in Seafood Supply Chains. Science Advances.
- Committing to Socially Responsible Seafood, Science.
- Social equity is key to sustainable ocean governance. Nature.
- The role of human rights in implementing socially responsible seafood. PloS One.
- Committing to socially responsible seafood. Science.
- Estimates of illegal and unreported fish in seafood imports to the USA Marine Policy.
- Op/Ed: The numbers tell the story when it comes to forced labor in seafood. Seafood Source Media.
- Performance of regional fisheries management organizations: ecosystem‐based governance of bycatch and discards,
- Improvements to Rapfish: a rapid evaluation technique for fisheries integrating ecological and human dimensions
- Sea turtle bycatch to fish catch ratios for differentiating Hawaii longline-caught seafood products.
Contact us at the.sustainability.incubator@gmail.com. Mahalo.