Correspondence
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed the contact address for Dalian Huafeng Aquatic Products.
The email said: "We’re contacting you in light of our research on the practice of ‘flagging in’, whereby fishing vessels owned by companies in one country are flagged to another country in order to access that second country’s waters. We are not indicating explicitly or implicitly that flagging-in is illegal, we are just taking a look at the issue of flagging-in globally.
Records indicate that Dalian Huafeng Aquatic Products Co. Ltd. is the beneficial owner of over a dozen fishing vessels flagged to Argentina, including vessels operated by the fishing companies Arbumasa S.A. and Ardapez S.A.
We have the following questions for Dalian Huafeng Aquatic Products Co. Ltd.:
- As noted above, we are not indicating explicitly or implicitly that flagging-in is illegal, we are just taking a look at the issue of flagging-in globally. Can Dalian Huafeng confirm that it is the owner or beneficial owner of fishing vessels which are flagged to Argentina?
- Can you confirm that Arbumasa S.A. and Ardapez S.A. are subsidiaries of Dalian Huafeng?
- Argentine authorities reported that the vessel Huafeng 822 was detected fishing illegally without permission in March 2024. Can you confirm if Huafeng 822 is owned directly or beneficially by Dalian Huafeng?
- Does Dalian Huafeng have any comment to make regarding any of the information in this email?
Please let us know your responses to these questions by close of business on July 19, 2024, noting that all interactions remain on record."