February 4, 2017 — A Hawaii Industry Task Force is firing back at the Associated Press after a September article accusing the local long-line fishing industry of slavery and human-trafficking.
The article implies that some foreign crewmen working on Hawaii fishing boats were undocumented are treated unfairly when it comes to pay rates and are kept as prisoners on their boats even while docked in Honolulu.
After conducting its investigation the task force found that all crewmen onboard those boats have documentation and are allowed off of their boats while docked.