Correspondence
Email sent to Jon Janower, the COO of Choices Market.
The email said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s fishing and seafood processing industries, and links we’ve discovered between companies engaged in such abuses and your supplier - Frobisher International Enterprise, which distributes the brands 3-Fish and Ocean Mama. Trade data shows that Frobisher International Enterprise has imported several shipments of seafood products from Dandong Taihua since 2019. A report published in 2022 by the non-governmental research organization, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, identified Dandong Taihua Food Co. Ltd. as using North Korean labor after the deadline for the repatriation of overseas North Korean workers required under UN Security Council Resolutions. The import to the U.S. of goods produced by North Koreans is prohibited under U.S. sanctions. Trade data shows that Frobisher International Enterprise has imported several shipments of seafood products from Rongcheng Puchen Aquatic Co Ltd since 2018. We have evidence of squid catch from a Zhoushan Ningtai Ocean Fisheries vessel that engaged in unregulated fishing activity - the Ning Tai 58 - at Rongcheng Puchen’s processing plant. Another 14 vessels owned by Zhoushan Ningtai are linked to a range of environmental and human rights issues including forced labor, AIS spoofing, shark finning, and unauthorized transhipment. Unauthorized transhipment can undermine supply chain traceability by obfuscating the movement of catch from vessel to processor. Does your company have any comment to make in light of the above information? Please respond to this email by close of business September 21, 2023, noting all interactions remain fully on the record."