When Indonesian migrant fishers set out on Taiwan-flagged tuna vessels, they carry contracts they often struggle to understand and promises about wages that frequently go unfulfilled. Now, Stanford researchers have launched IKAN, a digital platform designed to give these workers a fighting chance—not just at fair pay, but at basic dignity and safety on the open ocean.
The platform emerged from a partnership that began in 2020, when the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation asked Stanford's Center for Ocean Solutions to identify priorities for social sustainability in seafood supply chains. What followed was years of collaboration among researchers at Stanford's Center for Human Rights and International Justice (CHRIJ), civil society organizations like the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, technology builder FiftyEIGHT, and seafood companies—all guided by conversations with the fishers themselves and government officials in Indonesia and Taiwan.
Those conversations with workers revealed a pattern of need repeated again and again. Fishers wanted clarity on whether they would receive promised wages, understanding of what they were signing, and reliable information if something went wrong. Wage abuses, they explained, were often linked to broader forms of exploitation, making wage protection a crucial entry point for addressing labor and human rights issues across the fishing industry. IKAN was built from that foundation, designed to help workers track whether contract terms are being met and understand their rights.
The connection between labor abuse and ocean health runs deeper than most realize. When fisheries are overharvested—a consequence of excessive fishing pressure—workers must spend more time at sea to catch the same amount of fish they once did, straining both the resource and the business. Fuel and labor are the two biggest costs in fishing, creating pressure that makes wage abuses more likely. These abuses, in turn, facilitate continued overharvesting, creating a vicious cycle that damages both workers and ecosystems. Breaking that cycle requires accountability that previously did not exist.
Jessie Brunner, CHRIJ's Director of Human Trafficking Research, draws motivation from conversations conducted nearly a decade ago with an Indonesian fisher who had been trafficked to South Africa. That worker's fear of isolation in an unfamiliar place, navigating impossible conditions while managing the inherent uncertainty of distant-water fishing, underscores why this work matters. Liz Selig, Managing Director of COS, emphasizes that IKAN creates an opportunity to align the various needs and incentives across the seafood supply chain toward one outcome: safe, fair, dignified working conditions for fishers.
Currently, IKAN focuses on Indonesian migrant fishers on Taiwan-flagged tuna vessels, but the platform was deliberately designed with flexibility in mind. The tools and frameworks can be adapted to address similar issues in other migration corridors and fisheries, scaling protection to vulnerable workers across multiple industries. The platform helps workers understand their rights, tracks wage payments and contract compliance, and provides access to information and support when problems arise—transforming a hidden corner of the global economy into one where accountability is possible.