) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites..
A school of Pacific skipjack tuna. (Image credit: istock)
On July 20, NOAA hosted a collaborative stakeholder summit, A Call to Action: Ending Forced Labor and Promoting Decent Work in the Seafood Sector. The energetic discussions focused on innovative approaches being used, lessons learned by organizations across the sector, and a shared commitment to working together to improve labor conditions throughout the seafood supply chain.
Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo and NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad offered reflections from the summit:
“Everyone deserves a safe workplace. President Biden’s July 2022 National Security Memorandum to Combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses places special emphasis on the importance of developing public-private partnerships to promote human rights, labor rights, and fundamental freedoms in the seafood sector.
By coming together to address illegal labor practices, we can have a positive impact on seafood industry workers and families around the world, and help ensure the stability of the broader seafood supply chain.”
— Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo
“NOAA is committed to making progress towards ending illegal labor practices in the seafood supply chain, as well as promoting legal, safe, and healthy working conditions within the fishing industry. This week, we invited stakeholders who share the same commitment to join a new initiative called the Collaborative Accelerator for Lawful Maritime Conditions in Seafood (CALM-CS, pronounced "calm seas"). This public-private partnership initiative will promote legal and safe working conditions, including combating forced labor, in the fishing and seafood industry. We hope that CALM-CS can leverage the urgency we all feel toward these issues and be just one part of the response to this call for action that is shared around the world.
In the coming months, through the CALM-CS initiative, NOAA Fisheries will pursue public-private partnership efforts to accelerate efforts toward ending forced labor and improving working conditions across the seafood sector. We are at a key moment and I invite more participants from all relevant sectors to join us to collaborate and explore how we can best work together towards these goals.”
— Dr. Rick Spinrad, NOAA administrator
