The Sustainability Incubator is an independent source of forward-shifting work on stewardship in business.

Founded in 2012 in Honolulu by Dr. Katrina Nakamura (h-index 17, 2457 citations), we are known for working behind the scenes to achieve a significant transformation in business and people’s lives. Our work is strategic and involves embedding stewardship in policy, curricula and training to create alignment and traction on shared goals across and inside of supply chains, government agencies, and between employers and employees.

Our track record is reflected in the decisions and actions taken recently by our clients ASEAN, US seafood industry, Governments of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Fiji, Freedom Fund and Humanity United, IOM, FAO, GLOBEFISH, and projects for stewardship at-sea that we provide with science and social responsibility measures.

Science to Adapt

We publish scientific research on at-sea findings, innovative measures and methods that have been highly cited in decisions by courts and governments:

• 44 policy citations from our 2011 paper in Marine Policy, Estimates of illegal and unreported fish in seafood imports to the USA) including in US Presidential Task Force and federal court decisions to enact the new Seafood Import Monitoring Program to curb imports of seafood derived from illegal fishing. The UN cited it in its 1-in-4 infographic.
• At-sea detection methodology was published in Science Advances for others to use and improve upon.
• Is tuna ecolabeling causing fishers more harm than good? was published in Nature Ocean Sustainability in Fall 2024 and was a subject in 2025 investigations by the Financial Times UK and Swiss broadcaster RTS.
• A Practical Take on the Duty to Uphold Rights in the Seafood Workplace was published in Marine Policy for all to use after the authors led a two-year process of drafting the global guidance for social responsibility in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors for the UN FAO Committee on Fisheries, with workshops in Shanghai, Brussels and Rome. The article has since been heavily cited in policy documents by the Secretariat for the Pacific Community.
• Performance of regional fisheries management organizations: ecosystem‐based governance of bycatch and discards, Improvements to Rapfish: a rapid evaluation technique for fisheries integrating ecological and human dimensions and Sea turtle bycatch to fish catch ratios for differentiating Hawaii longline-caught seafood products are highly cited in fisheries policy.

Regional Ocean Policy

Building Work at Sea into Policy

In 2025 we assisted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to prepare for a significant update in regional ocean policy to bring millions of ASEAN citizens working on the ocean into sight. We completed a major review of the 11 members’ ocean economic development policies and laws on labor, OSH, fishing and enforcement via primary research with authorities in each country then set out a practical pathway for members to move forward together. We assisted with next steps for livelihood security by editing the Guidelines on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers to be practical for implementation.

Between 2021 and 2024, we embedded stewardship accountability into the world’s least visible commercial operations at sea. Thirteen young people were rescued and their human traffickers apprehended within 3 months of implementation.

In parallel, we trained fishing companies and government inspectors at ports how to detect, collect and refer key information about fishers’ conditions and built rapid response protocols.

Our part is doing the necessary legwork for a rapid transformation. Here, we did the legal review, policy briefs to set inter-agency goals, built inter-agency curricula and coordination trees and delivered matching training to the industry. We had different clients and contracts but saw a major opportunity for alignment and made it happen.

Lowering labor risks at sea with curricula & training

Since 2018 we have trained over 85 suppliers to detect forced labor in their supply chain and to help prevent it by performing human rights due diligence. The Labor Safe Screen^TM has been used by businesses and governments to learn conditions in over 500 supply chains and what to do to respond and prevent exploitation at-sea. Its digital application in traceability software won the Partnership for Freedom Grand Prize for tech to eliminate modern slavery in 2016.

We have also produced 20 experiential and interdisciplinary training packages with coordination and referral protocols that are now used inside supply chains and mandated for use at fishing ports in Manado, Bitung and Tegal ports in Indonesia and General Santos City, the Philippines, and Thailand’s seafood sector.

Curricula we wrote for detecting and responding to forced labor are freely available to use:

IOM-Training-Manual-for-Fishing-and-Seafood-Enterprises_Thailand-FinalDownload

IOM-Training-Manual-for-Fishing-and-Seafood-Enterprises-Indonesia-FinalDownload

SAFE-Seas-Training-Manual-for-Port-Inspectors_PhilippinesDownload

SAFE-Seas-Training-Manual-for-Port-Inspectors_IndonesiaDownload

Fishery Improvement Projects

Since its founding in 2012, the Sustainability Incubator has been the industry leader in Fishery Improvement Projects, where seafood suppliers invest in fisheries sustainability as part of a sales access agreement with supermarkets. We have supported fishing companies implement over 30 projects worldwide in fisheries for tuna, swordfish, crab, scallops, snappers and other seafoods. Our clients currently are SYM PAC International, Fong Hsiang Enterprises and Sprouts Farmers Market.

We are known for implementing pragmatic, innovative and durable measures backed by industry and community strength.

Economics Policy and Adapting since Covid

After supply and demand started balancing our in 2022, a very large price gap emerged between growing consumer prices and falling producer prices and the gap continued to grow inexplicably through 2025. We looked at the whole picture of prices, costs, earnings and conditions at every level of the supply chain to learn more about how shrimp and tuna are being made today – as the two seafoods we eat most often. We asked, who is winning and losing on price? What were the human consequences for shrimp farmers and workers as prices fell lower than shrimp costs to make? Who was behind the widening gap?

How IS supermarket tuna being made – is it like the ecolabel says?

Is tuna ecolabeling causing fishers more harm than good? was published in Nature Ocean Sustainability in Fall 2024

No, it isn’t. A deep dive into ecolabeled tuna showed that the claims did not match the data the ecolabel had collected. We found a severe disconnect between claims of no-forced-labour and worsening conditions for fishers since the pandemic. The ecolabel appeared to have built a rights-wash station into the middle of the tuna supply chain with procedures riddled with loopholes that had the effect of inviting tuna distributors to write what they like about conditions at-sea, despite lacking the facts. (Very few tuna ecolabeling clients were fishing employers who hold the facts – labour data are proprietary).

The article, database and footnotes can be found here and here.

Press

• Financial Times (UK), November 20, 2025: The dark truth behind supermarket tuna.
• Oceana’s Press Release
• International Trade Federation’s Press Release
• Global Labor Justice’s Press Release
• Greenpeace Press Release
• Un-romancing the Ecolabel, Fishy Work Podcast (November 2024).

Questions about this report? Please contact us at The.Sustainability.Incubator@gmail.com.

How IS supermarket shrimp being made? Don’t conditions depend on the wholesale price?

Wholesale prices for shrimp producers went into free fall in mid-2022 when consumer prices began to skyrocket. Then the price gap grew larger and larger. We collected prices, costs, earnings and interviews from over 500 shrimp producers and workers across Asia to understand the consequences and drivers. This was accomplished by partnering with field organizations in Viet Nam, Indonesia and India and by tracking the products through to supermarkets.

Press

• National Public Radio, September 28, 2025:Trump’s tariffs are hurting India’s shrimp industry.
• Associated Press: As big supermarkets pursue profits, new research shows growing exploitation of shrimp farmers
• Associated Press: Takeaways from AP’s report on how shrimp farmers are exploited as supermarkets push for low prices
• AP’s coverage was picked up by newspapers worldwide, including the Washington Post, Jakarta Globe, Business Enquirer, Yomiuri Shimbun-The Japan News, NBC, ABC, Fox and CBS News: Shrimp farmers in Asia exploited by U.S. supermarkets for big profits, research finds
• SeafoodSource 9/24: Investigation finds increasing labor exploitation in Vietnam’s shrimp industry as prices drop
• Undercurrent News 9/24: Asian shrimp farmers pay price of Western supermarkets chasing higher profits, new research shows‘

The Viet Nam report initiated a dialogue with the government of Viet Nam that led to the addition of new information provided by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). The report was updated on September 12, 2024.

Questions about the shrimp reports? Please contact us at The.Sustainability.Incubator@gmail.com.

Contact us at the.sustainability.incubator@gmail.com. Mahalo.