In response to the AP story on Sept. 8, 2016, of the employment of foreign crews on Hawai’i longline vessels, the Hawai’I Longline Association (HLA) imposed a universal crew contract for all foreign crews, last year, according to the Pacific Islands Fishery News (Fall 2016).

For example, HLA said, “Foreign crews are allowed off the boats but must remain in the port area because they do not hold visas to enter the country. Passports of the crew are held by the vessel owners/ captains, not as an indicator of forced labor, as the AP story implied, but because that is required by” the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

In November, the newsletter reported, the vice president of Indonesia, where many of the foreign fishermen originate, visited Honolulu, and said while he is satisfied with the welfare of Indonesian crews, his only concern “was the lack of visas to allow the crew to fly into Honolulu.”

The AP’s story had reported, “a typical route could go from Indonesia to Australia to Fiji to Western Samoa to American Samoa. Some pass through Amsterdam. Others end up in Mexico or Panama. They're then picked up by American captains for the 10- to 20-day sail to Honolulu.”

However, according to a US News report (October 2016), federal officials cannot enforce the universal crew contract imposed by the HLA. It will have to be enforced by the industry itself.

According to the report, “U.S. Custom and Border Protection ‘does not review contracts, we just make sure that these fishermen ... are employed on the vessel,’ said Ferdinand Jose, Custom and Border Protection supervisory officer. ‘Whatever you negotiate ... is between you folks, not us’.”

Of the 167 fishing vessels in the fleet, 143 of them employ a total of about 620 foreign men, US News reports.

At the heart of the universal contract is the exemption of the fleet in Hawai’i from a federal law that requires that U.S. citizens make up 75 percent of the crew on most commercial fishing vessels in America. The exemption has created a loophole that has led to allegations of human slavery, forced labor and other abuses of foreign crewmembers.

Pacific Islands Fishery News also reported that HLA calls the AP article “inaccurate and full of omissions.”

Samoa News should point out that this AP article the HLA is pointing to — Hawaiian seafood caught by foreign crews confined on boats — is part of the AP's ongoing global look at labor abuses in the fishing industry, stretching from Southeast Asia to America's own waters. In 2016, the AP won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its “Seafood from Slaves” series, which includes this AP article.