Thailand has arrested more than 100 people for human trafficking after a threat from the EU to boycott the country’s fishing industry.
An additional 130 people were freed from vessels and factories, according to the police.
Thai officials took action after Brussels issued the country with a “yellow card” warning last April and said it would ban all seafood imports unless the government tackled the rampant labour abuses going on.
A boycott could cost Thailand $1 billion (£700 million) a year. Thailand is the third largest seafood exporter in the world.
Its dominance is achieved by overfishing and forced or low paid labour, predominately from neighbouring countries such as Burma and Cambodia, according to human rights groups.
They believe that Thai officials are receiving bribes in exchange for letting people-trafficking thrive.
Some who have managed to escape from Thai fishing fleets have described atrocious conditions and beatings as well as some murders at sea.
The Environmental Justice Foundation, a British NGO that has worked with the Thai government to address its fishing woes, says there have been positive changes in fishing legislation, but there remains a very long way to go.
The US government has given Thailand the worst possible rating in its annual trafficking report two years in a row.
