New technology is making advocates and law enforcement optimistic that they might finally have a chance at freeing men held captive at sea on large commercial fishing vessels.

The men [and it is almost always men] who get forced into slavery aboard those ships have often gone willingly, seeking work, says Val Farabee, director of research at Liberty Shared, an organization that fights human trafficking. But once isolated at sea, their wages are withheld and they’re subjected to violent, bleak working conditions for years.

Forced labor and slavery are terms used interchangeably by human trafficking experts to refer to people working against their will. Though well documented in ships that fish illegally, the fishing industries’ dizzying network of enforcement and regulation,