China

Farmed Fish in Xinjiang, Tibet Linked to Forced Labor in Global Seafood Supply

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By Hank Hsu/Irene Lin

A new investigative report titled "Food for Feed" by The Outlaw Ocean Project reveals severe environmental and human rights abuses hidden within global aquaculture supply chains. Speaking with TaiwanPlus, founder Ian Urbina details how China—which leads global farmed seafood production—has pushed fish farming deep into inland regions like Xinjiang and Tibet as coastal fish stocks decline. In Xinjiang, seafood cultivated through forced labor transfers has entered US public institutions and commercial markets in violation of federal law, prompting Congressional hearings and sanctions against major Chinese producers. Meanwhile, in Tibet, massive infrastructure projects such as the Longyangxia dam solar-hydro hybrid station have flooded cultural sites and displaced nomadic herders, utilizing aquaculture as a vehicle for forced assimilation and state control.