In the last half-century, Thailand’s fishing grounds have been decimated by industrial fishing. Over-exploitation has depleted fish stocks and devastated marine biodiversity in both the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand, leaving swathes of ocean devoid of large fish. The huge fleet of unmonitored fishing vessels responsible for this destruction often uses trafficked slave labour, forcing vulnerable migrants to work for nothing to satisfy our appetite for cheap seafood. It’s a cycle of human misery and environmental devastation. A Thai fishing vessel now catches just 14% of what it would have caught 50 years ago. Faced with declining catches, vessel operators have targeted so-called ‘trash fish’, which is used to make animal feed - around a third of this is made up of juvenile fish from commercially important species. The cycle of over-exploitation has accelerated the depletion of Thailand’s marine resources and little is being done to save what remains. Overfishing in Thailand’s waters, especially by trawlers operating too close to shore, causes major damage to fragile marine environments. These areas act as nurseries and breeding grounds for many species of fish and provide habitats for a number of endangered marine species. Behind this environmental catastrophe lies human tragedy. Exploitation, trafficking and slave labour remain widespread in the Thai fishing industry. In 2014, the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons report downgraded Thailand to Tier 3, the lowest possible ranking, as a result of the country’s failure to address human trafficking, placing it alongside countries such as North Korea, Mauritania and Iran. Overfishing, pirate fishing and modern-day slavery are part of a vicious cycle. Ending this cycle requires coordinated action from governments, industry, supermarkets and consumers to address these problems as one interconnected issue. Until we do, vulnerable people around the world will continue to suffer and marine habitats will be destroyed beyond recovery.