14 Oct 2023

Ian Urbina: slavery on the high seas

From Saturday Morning, 9:07 am on 14 October 2023
Ian Urbina on an Indonesian patrol ship  chasing Vietnamese fishing ships in a contested area of the South China Sea

Ian Urbina on an Indonesian patrol ship chasing Vietnamese fishing ships in a contested area of the South China Sea Photo: supplied / Fabio Nascimento

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Urbina's latest investigations into the Chinese distant-water fishing fleet has uncovered human rights and labour abuses.

The Chinese foreign fishing fleet is an armada of over 4,600 vessels, including in the Pacific, accounting for 14 percent of worldwide marine catch, by value.  

For this investigation, Urbina has boarded Chinese vessels and exchanged messages in bottles with crew.

Ian Urbina heads The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. focusing on reporting environmental and human rights crimes at sea.