---
title: "Listen — the hidden cost of seafood (China pt. 2) Episode 7"
description: "Spread across the Earth’s oceans, the Chinese distant-water fishing fleet is the single largest armada in human history. This three-part series is an unprecedented investigation into their secretive fishing practices. The fleet is so gargantuan that even the Chinese government can’t account for all its vessels. We do know it has hauled in more than $35-billion worth of catch per year and has sold it across the globe – and yet, almost nothing was known about its practices. That is, until The Outlaw Ocean team started asking questions, and eventually managed to get aboard a dozen Chinese vessels to investigate."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "THE OUTLAW OCEAN PROJECT"
author: "The Outlaw Ocean Project"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/the-outlaw-ocean-project/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-07-22-listen-the-hidden-cost-of-seafood-china-pt-2-episode-7/"
published: "2025-07-22T21:04:42"
updated: "2025-07-22T21:04:43"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 260
---

# Listen — the hidden cost of seafood (China pt. 2) Episode 7

> Spread across the Earth’s oceans, the Chinese distant-water fishing fleet is the single largest armada in human history. This three-part series is an unprecedented investigation into their secretive fishing practices. The fleet is so gargantuan that even the Chinese government can’t account for all its vessels. We do know it has hauled in more than $35-billion worth of catch per year and has sold it across the globe – and yet, almost nothing was known about its practices. That is, until The Outlaw Ocean team started asking questions, and eventually managed to get aboard a dozen Chinese vessels to investigate.

By The Outlaw Ocean Project · Published 22 July 2025, 23:04 SAST · Updated 22 July 2025, 23:04 SAST

## Key points
- In a deep dive into the murky waters of China’s distant-water fishing fleet and the seafood supply chain, the Outlaw Ocean Project uncovers the chilling truth of forced Uyghur labour lurking beneath our plates, raising the unsettling question: what’s the real price of that bargain fish dinner?
- Investigative challenges in China make seafood reporting particularly complex, requiring innovative methods over four years.
- The investigation uncovers forced Uyghur labour in the seafood supply chain, revealing severe human rights abuses and family separations.
- Seafood linked to forced labour is found in imports to over 20 countries, including the US and Canada, highlighting a global issue.
- The episode raises critical questions about the hidden costs of low seafood prices and the ethical implications of consumer choices.

## Content

**Episode highlights:**

- Nowhere is more difficult to report than China, and seafood is an unusually tough product to investigate. Host Ian Urbina explains the various reporting methods his team needed to employ over four years to track how seafood gets from bait to plate;
- Right at the heart of this secretive supply chain, the team finds forced Uyghur labour, with the cascading effects of family separation, relocation and a plummeting birth rate. The international community has scrutinised China’s human rights abuses against this predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, and specific laws were set up to protect them from exploitation – but the Uyghur people’s role in seafood production was totally off the radar. In total, we identified forced Uyghur labour tied to seafood imported to more than 20 countries, including the US and Canada; and
- Ian reflects on the many costs hidden along this complex supply chain, and the larger question: how have we allowed the seafood we eat to be so thoroughly comingled with environmental and human rights abuses? What is the true cost of the low prices we see on our seafood? And who’s really paying for it?

[Spotify audio](https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/78TMsUCCyje1BSbz8gbmUb?utm_source=generator)

![Workers in 2023 at a seafood plant called Yantai Sanko Fisheries in Shandong Province, China, which relies on Uyghur and other labor from Xinjiang and exports to the U.S., Canada, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. (Photo: Douyin, Kashgar Media Center )](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/MaxSqWRsfiPt67jvZu-f_TPJtIk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2023-09-21-at-12.32.44-PM-copy.jpg)

*Workers in 2023 at a seafood plant called Yantai Sanko Fisheries in Shandong Province, China, which relies on Uyghur and other labour from Xinjiang and exports to the US, Canada, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. (Photo: Douyin, Kashgar Media Center)*

![Ethnic minority workers at Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. attend political education sessions at the factory in 2021, a common component of China's state-imposed forced labor system. (Photo: Yantai United Front Work Department )](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/0nHhiTqrJmILFP2N2Ul0o7irMaw=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pasted-image-0-copy-2.jpg)

*Ethnic minority workers at Yantai Sanko Fisheries attend political education sessions at the factory in 2021, a common component of China’s state-imposed forced labour system. (Photo: Yantai United Front Work Department)*