Mars and Nestlé just stepped up to protect the ocean and workers. Here's how.

Thanks to the hard work of pet owners and activists like you, Mars and Nestlé — the two largest pet food companies in the world — are committing to make immediate changes to help ensure their pet food supply chains are safer for our oceans and workers.

What exactly did Mars and Nestlé do?

The companies are committing to address a shifty practice in their supply chains called transshipment. This practice enables fishing vessels to offload their products to other boats at sea, far from sight, and continue fishing for months or years at a time. Transshipment is often associated with human rights abuse, illegal fishing and smuggling of shark fins.

Nestlé has committed to a full ban on transshipment at sea in its supply chains, while Mars has committed to suspend the use of transshipped products in their supply chains if its seafood suppliers cannot adequately address the human rights and illegal fishing issues associated with the practice in the coming weeks.

Over the last few years, explosive coverage by the Guardian, Associated Press, New York Times and others has exposed human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage and other human rights abuses on fishing fleets supplying seafood to brands and retailers around the world.

Massive companies including Mars, Nestlé and Thai Union were implicated, triggering a new focus on supply chain traceability across the seafood industry. More and more restaurants, food service companies, supermarkets and pet food companies recognise that they need to get a handle on where their seafood is coming from, who caught it and how those workers were treated.

It’s great news that Mars and Nestlé are taking positive steps to clean up their supply chains. But more needs to be done to tackle these pervasive problems in the seafood industry.

How does transshipment lead to labour abuse and environmental destruction?

Transshipment allows vessels to hand over their fish at sea and continue fishing. This is problematic from an environmental standpoint, as 24-7, year-round fishing creates heavy pressure on fish stocks that are already in trouble. It also enables pirate fishing vessels to launder their catch, mixing it with legal fish from other boats without ever going into port for inspection.

In February, Global Fishing Watch published a report revealing the startling scale of transshipment for the first time: they found evidence of thousands of transshipments in the last year alone.

The human impacts of transshipment can be horrific, as fishermen can literally be trapped on board for over a year at a time without any chance of escape. We have interviewed fishermen – many who were trafficked from Cambodia and Myanmar – who described hellish treatment: beatings, sleep deprivation, 20 hour workdays, sexual abuse and even murder of co-workers who dared to complain or simply got too sick to work. Many fishermen reported being forced to eat bait to survive, and several later died from beri beri, a disease found on sailing ships hundreds of years ago that makes no sense on the boats supplying billion dollar businesses today.

How is this still going on?

As revealed in Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s investigative report on human rights abuses and illegal fishing in Thailand’s overseas fishing industry, many of the most notorious vessels for transshipment simply move to areas where there was even less scrutiny and regulation. And their fish has shown up in pet food and tuna cans in Europe, the United States and beyond.

The good news is that more companies, NGOs and governments are beginning to recognise the dangers of transshipment at sea, and the challenges it creates for efforts to track seafood back to the source.

The spotlight on this concerning practice is shining brighter with companies like Mars and Nestlé showing leadership by stepping forward to clean up their supply chains. But more must be done. That’s why we are calling on companies to join the call to tackle unchecked transshipment at sea.

How can we hold the seafood industry accountable?

Clearly, ANY slave labour in our products is unacceptable. And Thai Union, a supplier for both Mars and Nestlé, has not taken the same steps the pet food companies have to clean up its own supply chains. That’s why we are using this victory to demand progress from the global seafood giant — to ensure that Mars’ and Nestlé’s commitments translate to immediate, significant change at sea.

If Thai Union commits to end transshipment, it can help lead the charge for the entire industry, creating a brighter future for seafood workers and ocean biodiversity.

Sign the petition to tell Thai Union to join Mars and Nestlé and make a strong commitment to address out-of-control transshipment at sea now.

John Hocevar is the Oceans Campaign Director for Greenpeace USA