Indonesian flags, but these were thai ships. There were something happening board those ships that were far worse than that. 2,000 men came forward who were enslaved on thai fishing boats, on these waters, working for as long as a decade without pay. The boats here were central to one of the worlds most important food suppliers, thai fishing industry, thailand is the second largest exporter of seafood. And the United States consumes much of it. The Global Demand for cheap seafood and years of unpaid labor will they receive any justice at all . Weve come to Southeast Asia to speak with the men who have been catching our fish for years. Were over 2,000 miles east of thailand. But fish here are so abundant that thai trawlers have been making the journey for years. In 2014, the indonesian government imposed a moratorium on commercial fishing in its territory. Fishing boats were forced into the nearest port which had an unexpected effect. Hundreds of trafficked men fled the ships and took refuge here. In the past year there have been over a thousand who have passed through this camp. Now theres just dozens left for us to hear their stories. Almost all are migrants, men from myanmar, cambodia, laos, who traveled to thailand for better pay. Most are from myanmar and never even intended to work at sea. All of those, all of them were tricked into getting onto the boats . Theyve come from the high lands, the Central Plains of moirn. The first boa of myanmar. Oversees this camp. There seem to be a pattern of abuse these men face, beating by sting ray tails. Real harsh treatment. I want a show of hands how many saw with their own eyes beatings taking place . Almost everybody. Beatings taking place at sea. Some worked for as long as a year and a half without ever getting off the boat. Thats because rather than go to port, their boats unloaded the catch onto refrigerated cargo ships at sea. A process known as transshipping. Three of these transshimg shipping vessels remain. Re refer ships, those include suppliers to thai union the largest producer of canned tuna in the world which exports nearly half of that product to the u. S. Under the brand, chicken of the sea. Its almost impossible to separate what effectively are slave caught fish from fish that are being caught through more legitimate means. In addition to tuna, many of the fishermen we spoke to caught species called trash fish. How many are catching trash fish . In thailand, trash fish are processed as pet food for brand like iams or fancy feast. It is part of the business model. Many of the reasons why your shrimp cocktail at your fancy restaurant doesnt cost you an arm or a leg is the labor costs are so low. In the last year nearly 2,000 trafficked fishermen have been repatriated to their home countries. Thai owners have had to offer cash settlements to them set up by indonesian authorities. One day one man had agreed to take the money and go home. Discussions happening at the room in the port between the captains and the companies and the fishermen themselves. 14 of those men have agreed to the terms so today they are going to be paid out in full and in a couple of days time were going to put them on an aircraft and send them home. This is nay men a 23yearold forced to work at sea for a year and a half. He accepted the equivalent of 180 per month, lest than thailands mix wage of 250 minimum wage of 250. The day before their return to myanmar, we sat down with the men who accepted payments. For them, the money settled very little. Thats just like a third of the total amount. Yeah, even less than onethird. It sounds like all of these guys have serious complaints about compensation they received. Theyre telling us there was no burmese translator in the room when the settlement was made and they didnt understand what was going on. This is tant, now slightly deaf from the beatings he received. He served the equivalent of 3,000. Just onethird of what he says he is owed. 28 months, okay. So thats way less than you should get . Yeah. So why havent you taken the money . Because i wanted to just wantewanted to go back to see te family. This mans restitution amounted to only about 150 for every month he was enslaved. You havent seen your family for five years . Do you have children . How are you feeling about seeing them again . This is Al Jazeera America live from new york. At 7 00 news roundup. Tony harris gives you a fastpaced recap of the days events. This is the first line of defense. We have an exclusive story tonight. Then at 8 00 John Seigenthaler brings you the top stories from across america. The question is, will these dams hold . And at 9 00 im ali velshi, on target tonight. Ali velshi on target. Digging deeper into the issues that matter. Im trying to get a sense for what iranians are feeling. Its 5 00 in the morning and the fishermen who have accepted a settlement are headed to the airport. The iom has provided them tickets back to myanmar. A journey that in one day will fly them over the ocean expanse that they fished for years. So the fishermen are going to be taking commercial flights back to myanmar. They are flying first to jakarta and then on to bangkok. These men have lived together now for months. And for those who fish together, its been even longer. But most of them, its the first time theyve sat on an airplane. Almost all Migrant Workers are like the victims of trafficking. When they are being recruited the family is always in accident. Cha cha is an advocate who work on behalf of trafficked immigrants in myanmar. Especially when they come back the depression, so they cannot cope with their life when they are back. Yangon airport, officials from myanmars antitrafficking police are here to greet the fishermen. The men will be provided shelter for tonight but tomorrow theyre on their own. Decades of military dictatorship have made myanmar the second poorest country in asia after afghanistan. Thats why so many here are willing to leave their families and entrust their fate to labor brokers who promise higher wages just across the border in thailand. Were headed to a small village outside yangon to visit the family home of fan, one of the men we met in yangon. The day before he reunited with his parents for first time in over a decade. How is he different from when he left home . Hans family wants to bring a legal case for his unpaid wages which at the say is 6,000 the equivalent of several years salary. To date no such cases in myanmar have been successful. Since 2011, at least 1500 trafficked fishermen have been repatriated to myanmar. In an analysis of about 400 of those cases, the ngo project isera determined on average, their compensation has amounted to only about 66 for every month they were enslaved. 88 of them received less than their promised salary or no compensation at all. It has been going on for years and decades. But there is no system in place to help fishermen. What they are expecting is to get the minimum wage that they are entitled to. What they have asked for is just a very small amount. Back in yangon, we met another group of enslaved fishermen who were repatriated five months ago. All of them worked on thai ships in indonesia. None have received compensation. These men are now unemployment, living with family. Around working odd jobs and working odd jobs to survive. They told us that Embassy Officials from myanmar, thailand and indonesia had promised them their wages. This man spent seven years enslaved after his broker sold him onto a boat. This man said his captain would pour engine oil on workers who slept too late. How do you feel about the people who eat the fish that you were catching under these conditions . The center of thailands 7 billion seafood industry is the port just 30 miles from bangkok. Every year, millions of pounds of fish are brought here, where they are process, packaged and shipped across the world. One of the most important ports for this in the world. Feeding the world. President of the thai overseas fisheries association, which represents the major Thai Companies that fish abroad. These are men who were working for years and years on boats under extremely abusive conditions, not getting paid at all for any of that work. Most of the operators or the captains, theyre not like that. I think that story is, a lot of them, are not true. You think a lot of the stories are not true . Yeah, if you compared 50,000 vessels, you have, say, 1 , its a lot. Its a lot. Some actual some are not true. I dont see theres any more problem now and a lot of them have got paid already. The ones who received compensation say they should be getting a lot more money because of the years that they worked from the boat. I dont know how much they asked for. So i cannot answer this. But from my view as a fishing boat owner i would say the government put more than 100 effort to stop the human trafficking. In the last two years both the United States and the European Union down graded thailand in their rankings of countries that violate basic labor rights. The u. S. Government has banned the importation of products with forced labor. And the eu has considered ba banning products worth more than 700 million. On paper at least, the Thai Government has agreed to increase inspections, we joined the Marine Police for one of their inspections in the mouth of the bay of thailand. This team boarded three trawlers, all of which had thai captains and burmese crews. But according to the policing all of their paperwork was in order. It definitely looks like the thai police are doing more to crack down on trafficking at spot checks and looking at peoples i. D. S but its pretty hard to know if abuse was going on, on those ships. Once youve got crew out there theyre beyond the oversight of government, of industry. Daniel murphy is a fisheries researcher who has worked for greenpeace and the Environmental Justice foundation. He says overfishing in thailands waters have driven boats to fish in increasingly disability seas outside the authorities. No way that anyone could say that these were isolated cases of abuse, where one person had got unlucky or one vessel captain was bad or one business was bad. It was a system. After ambon, thai Authorities Say that system is grinding to a halt. But in sa administrationasaka, distant water ships continue to arrive in port. These reefer ships, almost all of them have come back from indonesian waters over the past 18 months. Its nearly impossible to know for sure whether these ships have stopped gathering fish from trawlers using slave labor. A lot of fish are being landed by nonthai boats, packaged in thailand and processed in thailand and then exported. This is a labor broker who used to be involved in trafficking burmese workers to thailand. He agreed to speak to us only on the condition that we hide his identity. The broker told us he believes as many as one fourth of those trafficked since that time remain enslaved at sea. At the end of 2015, nestle, the Largest Food Company in the world, acknowledged slave labor in its food chain. Thai union, owner of chicken of the sea, john west, said it stopped using the suppliers that received fish from indonesia. But the question of direct compensation or reparation still remains. The issue of compensation needs to be addressed. And not just compensation in terms of lost wages, but compensation in terms of justice. Consumers and the International Community have to accept some degree of responsibility. Because the price weve been paying for those products has not reflected the true costs of that production. It hasnt taken into account the fact that people have been exploited and abused, to get that seafood onto the shelves of our local retailer. In the last five years at least 2500 trafficked fishermen have been rescued from indonesia. An estimate would be roughly 35 million in total. Its a huge amount of money. Ten years of being at sea, working for 20 hours. And that will make a big change in their lives. And it will also stop people thinking that they are hopeless. It will empower them to start to rebuild their life as a human being. Who can support their family. Who can support themselves. I can neither confirm nor deny that theres a dark prison. They dont want anyone to know what is going on inside. He was not just a person, he was a human being. Faultlines. What do we want . Al jazeera americas hardhitting. Today the will be arrested. Groundbreaking. Theyre firing canisters of gas at us. Emmy awardwinning, investigative series. Bought thie this bought thie announcer this is al jazeera. Hello and welcome to news hour im laura kyle in doha. Still they arrive on greek island of lesbos despite deal to send refugees back to turkey. Radio, television, telephones and the internet all ordered to shut down during congos president ial election, 18 Police Officers shot dead on attack on a check point in