The four AP journalists have chronicled how men were being imprisoned, sometimes in cages, in an island village in Indonesia, and forced to work on fishing vessels. Numerous men also reported cruel maimings and deaths on their boats. 

Every morning at 2, they would hear a kick on the door and a threat: Get up or get beaten. They were forced to work 20 to 22 hour shifts with no days off. And they were never called by their real names, only numbers given to them by their boss.

In the Indonesian island village of Benjina and its surrounding waters, hundreds of trapped men represent one of the most desperate links criss-crossing between companies and countries involved in the seafood industry. 

The men Associated Press interviewed on Benjina were mostly from Myanmar. They were brought to Indonesia through Thailand, and were forced to fish.

Some fishermen, risking their lives, begged the reporters for help. Their seafood catch was shipped to Thailand, where it entered the global stream of commerce.

This intricate web of connections obscures a brutal truth: Your seafood may come from slaves. 

Slavery-tainted fish often wind up in some America's major grocery stores. It also finds a way into the supply chains of some of the most popular brands of canned pet foods.

The slaves interviewed by the AP had no idea where the fish they caught was headed. They knew only that it was so valuable, they were not allowed to eat it.

The seafood caught by slaves may travel around the world, but their own lives often end right here, in this island village.

A crude cemetery holds more than 60 graves, where small wooden markers are neatly labelled, some with the falsified names of slaves.

Only their friends remember where they were laid to rest.

The story of slavery in the Thai seafood industry started decades ago. In recent years, as the export business has expanded, it has become more difficult to convince young Myanmar migrants to accept the dangerous jobs.

So far more than 2,000 enslaved fishermen were freed after officials took action as the result of AP's reporting.