Rights on the Line Report Discussion

The Bridges Center research team is proud to present “Rights on the Line: Policy and Regulatory Gaps Affecting Migrant Fishers in Washington State Ports.” This project examines the working experiences of migrant fishers who have docked or offloaded catch in Washington state ports. It is a mixed-methods study that incorporates policy and regulatory data analysis with interview findings from fishers and a range of subject matter experts in commercial fishing, highly migratory species, human trafficking, regulatory environments, and more. This report covers a range of topics related to the conditions and experiences of migrant fishers. We provide information on the trends in experiences of the twenty-nine migrant and U.S. citizen fishers we interviewed, interacted with, or surveyed. We also introduce historical and current labor relationships between the United States and our interviewed migrant fishers’ home countries, applicable regulations and policies, and examples of approaches and limitations to combatting forced labor. Read the report and executive summary here: https://labor.washington.edu/rights-o...