Saving Seafood

Op-ed: Fighting forced labor across tuna supply chains: Progress requires companies to work with fishers’ unions

March 17, 2025 — Allison Gill is the legal director of Global Labor Justice, an NGO that works transnationally to advance policies and laws that protect decent work, strengthen freedom of association and workers’ ability to advocate for their rights, and hold corporations accountable for labor rights violations in their supply chains.

She is a human rights lawyer, researcher, and advocate who has conducted numerous field investigations into human and labor rights abuse, including in the seafood sector.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Fishermen accuse Bumble Bee Foods of forced labor, violence in tuna supply chain

March 14, 2025 — Canned seafood giant Bumble Bee knowingly sources its tuna from fleets that use physical violence and negligence to entrap workers and force them to fish in inhumane and horrific conditions in order to maximize company profits, four fishermen from rural Indonesia claim in a complaint filed in San Diego federal court on Wednesday.

“These men were looking for good jobs so they could provide for their families and build a future. Instead, they allege, they were trapped — isolated at sea, beaten with metal hooks, not getting enough food, working around the clock — and facing financial penalties if they tried to leave. The complaint outlines how each of them asked to be released, but were kept on board against their will — and in some cases didn’t take home a single penny for their labor,” plaintiff attorney Agnieszka Fryszman, partner at Cohen Milstein, said in a statement.

A man from rural Java identified in the suit as Akhmad claims he signed a contract that promised him $300 a month to join a fishing ship. But $200 a month was deducted for his first eight months at sea, which amounted to one-third of the contract’s period, to repay his recruitment and administrative costs. Another $50 was deducted for his living expenses, which left him with only $50 a month to support himself and his family.

That wasn’t it though, according to him and three other workers in their complaint. His family was also threatened with “punishment,” fines and debt if he left the ship early.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service 

US court approves StarKist, Bumble Bee price-fixing settlements

November 26, 2024 — The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California has approved settlement agreements between plaintiffs StarKist and Bumble Bee in lawsuits related to alleged price-fixing of canned tuna.

End-payer and direct-purchaser plaintiffs sued Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee, and StarKist in the U.S. for their alleged connections to a price-fixing scheme for canned tuna.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Labeling lawsuits reshaping sustainable seafood marketing strategies

February 21, 2024 — A series of lawsuits related to sustainability claims and eco-labels have changed the seafood industry’s approach to marketing sustainability bona fides. Lawsuits filed against Mowi, Gorton’s, ALDI, Conagra, Bumble Bee Foods, and Red Lobster are either pending or have resulted in settlements.

The suits should be a wake-up call to the seafood industry that it needs to change its marketing practices, according to Arlin Wasserman – the founder and managing director of Changing Tastes, a seafood industry consultancy working at the intersection of sustainability, public health, information technology, demographics, and the changing role of the culinary professional. Wasserman, who was previously the vice president of sustainability at foodservice provider Sodexo, recently discussed how companies can adapt and modernize their marketing campaigns with SeafoodSource. 

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Bumble Bee Foods to remove labor claims from marketing materials

March 23, 2023 — Bumble Bee Foods has agreed to remove claims about its fishing practices and working conditions from its marketing materials as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF).

As part of a settlement reached between the two parties announced 7 March, 2023, Bumble Bee Foods said it will remove the terms “fair and safe supply chain” and “fair and responsible working conditions” from its website, social media presence, and other public advertising, for 10 years.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource 

Appeals court hears Chris Lischewski’s claim of judicial error

June 17, 2021 — Former Bumble Bee Foods President and CEO Chris Lischewski formally appealed his conviction for leading a tuna price-fixing conspiracy in front of a three-judge panel on Wednesday, 16 June.

Lischewski’s appeal is centered around an argument that District Court Judge Edward M. Chen, who oversaw the case, gave incorrect instructions to the jury. In Wednesday’s hearing, Lischewski’s lawyer, John D. Cline, called the jury instructions given by Chen erroneous and confusing, which could have made the difference in what he called a “very close case.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Ken Worsham, Scott Cameron avoid jail time, concluding tuna price-fixing case sentencings

April 28, 2021 — Former Bumble Bee Foods executives Kenneth Worsham and Walter Scott Cameron were each sentenced to three years’ probation for their roles in a conspiracy to fix the price of canned tuna sold in the United States between 2011 and 2013.

Both were sentenced by Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California on Wednesday, 28 April, and both received more lenient sentences than typical for the level of crimes to which they pleaded guilty because they served as key witnesses in the U.S. government’s case against former Bumble Bee Foods CEO Chris Lischewski, who is currently serving a 40-month prison sentence. Former StarKist executive Stephen Hodge also served as a witness in the U.S. government’s case against Lischewski, and received leniency in a non-custodial, probationary sentence issued by Chen in January.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

A Look at Women in Top Seafood Management on International Women’s Day

March 8, 2021 — Monday, March 8 marks International Women’s Day. To celebrate, we’re taking a look at women in top seafood management roles.

This past October the International Organisation for Women in the Seafood Industry (WSI) compiled data on how many women have leadership positions in the seafood industry. The study was only the third time that WSI had compiled data, but according to their findings, in 2020 women at top positions (including executives and board) grew to 14%, which is the “highest ever recorded.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

“I just did the job” – StarKist’s Stephen Hodge explains role in price-fixing scheme

January 22, 2021 — Stephen L. Hodge says he’s sorry for his role in the price-fixing scandal that has rocked the U.S. canned tuna industry, resulting in massive fines for two of the companies involved, including his former employer, and a prison sentence for one of the scheme’s leaders.

Hodge, a former senior vice president of sales for StarKist who testified on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the criminal price-fixing cases against StarKist, as well as Bumble Bee Foods and former Bumble Bee President and CEO Chris Lischewski, avoided jail time in his sentencing, which took place 13 January.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Plant-based tuna brand Good Catch takes on fish burgers, crab cakes with frozen line

July 10, 2020 — Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch plant-based seafood alternative products, on Thursday, announced the launch of new frozen products that go beyond its tuna.

The company has launched New England Style Plant-Based Crab Cakes, Thai Style Plant-Based Fish Cakes, and Classic Style Plant-Based Fish Burgers.

This product extension is the second evolution from the plant-based seafood brand, according to the company.

The plant-based category — seafood and other proteins — is now worth $5 billion (€4.1 billion) and retail sales of plant-based foods grew 11 percent in 2019 versus 2 percent for the overall retail food market, according to figures from the Plant Based Foods Association.

Read the full story at IntraFish