Evidence, New Methods, Updated Policy and Curricula.
Founded in 2012 in Honolulu, business and government clients come to us for new capacity to adapt and shift their model to sustainability and dignity, not in hyper-reality like a hazy corporate commitment but in workplaces, regional policy, and the market.
Our clients are diverse but share the objective of adding new oversight to the world’s oceans and inside supply chains. Examples are the guidelines, coordination maps and curricula we have built for ASEAN, UN-FAO, IOM and USDOL. We find the real world conditions in real time with rigorous independent research that is featured often in the news (Financial Times, AP, Washington Post, NPR) and published (Nature, Science Advances, Science, PloS One, Marine Policy).
We are known for human rights due diligence and detection training with the LABOR SAFE SCREENTM, winner of the Partnership for Freedom grand prize for tech to eliminate modern slavery.
For nearly 15 years we’ve worked in the seafood sector to support it through major threats likes illegal fishing and forced labor. In 2026, we are investing in food culture as the most powerful solution.
The Sustainability Incubator is launching:
DIALOGUES TO REBUILD CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS IN OUR FOOD CULTURE.
Contact us to join peer-to-peer dialogues about rebalancing power in the market for wild and local food producers.
Here is an example of our stewardship of seafood:
2011-14: Illegal fishing was flagged as a security threat but nobody knew the size or locus of the problem. We estimated its magnitude worldwide by tracing 30 top US seafood imports from 10 countries finding 20-32% average illegal content, 70% Thai tuna. Results: USA struck a Presidential Task Force and began monitoring imports, citing our work 44x.
2013-16: We developed detection methods with Thai Labour Rights Promotion Network we published in Science Advances and screened over 500 supply chains. Results: We introduced Human Rights Due Diligence to the seafood industry and won the Partnership for Freedom grand prize for Labor Safe Screen digital.
2015-2024: We built labour oversight by training (1) 80 seafood suppliers in 14 countries, (2) inspectors at 4 ports in Indonesia and the Philippines, and (3) 6 sectors of employers in Thailand and Indonesia with IOM. We drafted global guidelines for fisheries & aquaculture for UN-FAO. Results: The port protocols were mandated and within 2 months 13 young women were rescued and their traffickers apprehended at General Santos airport.
Pandemic Impacts: We researched workplace conditions in tuna and shrimp production and found the opposite of what markets say. A dbase of 3327 vessels fishing for ecolabeled tuna showed the MSC ecolabel does not know conditions or employers & most fishers were stranded at sea when it said forced labour risks were lower for certified seafood. Results: Findings in Nature were featured by the Financial Times and Re:Structure Lab. Data on post-pandemic wholesale prices, producer and workers’ earnings and costs showed rising unpaid work across the sector from blocked recovery, as supermarkets paid less for shrimp than it cost to farm, raised consumer prices. Results: Featured by Associated Press and all major US networks, newspapers across Asia, Wash. Post.
2025-26: We assisted ASEAN to develop a fishing labour policy and prepared practical workplace tools for workers and employers to use, like a Crew Rights Handbook and Vessel Owner Code of Conduct for the Hawaii Tuna Fleet in Bahasa, Tagalog, English, Vietnamese. We support 2 Fishery Improvement Projects. Results: Regional policy for SE Asian fishers. Stronger working relationships in Hawaii. Lower mortality for sea birds, turtles, sharks.
Fall 2026: Launch of Dialogues to Rebuild Close Relationships in Food Culture.
About Us
We develop research and tools like the Labour Safe Screen and Live the Code that are highly cited and widely used. The Sustainability Incubator is a project-based firm. Projects are localized to address real world problems in their setting in real time and accordingly are staffed by resident authorities.
Leadership is provided by founder Dr. Katrina Nakamura, a rural planner, former seafood restaurateur and highly cited interdisciplinary scientist. Katrina is consulted frequently by the Financial Times (1,2), Associated Press (1,2), Washington Post, NPR, and seafood media. Find Katrina at Food Market on Substack.
Resources to Share
- Curricula for Port Inspectors to Detect Forced Labour & Respond:
- 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-Philippines.
- SAFE-Seas-Training-Manual-for-Port-Inspectors_Indonesia.
- 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, Fish and Fisheries.
- Improvements to Rapfish: a rapid evaluation technique for fisheries integrating ecological and human dimensions. Journal of Fish Biology.
- Sea turtle bycatch to fish catch ratios for differentiating Hawaii longline-caught seafood products. Marine Policy.
Contact us at the.sustainability.incubator@gmail.com. Mahalo.